MovieChat Forums > A Thousand Words (2012) Discussion > So what made this movie so terrible?

So what made this movie so terrible?

posted 13 years ago by Samurai_Joe_Marshall
19 replies | jump to latest

I hadn't read/seen anything about this movie until today when I saw it had a whopping 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. So I read the basic plot info:

"Eddie Murphy is Jack McCall, a fast-talking literary agent, who can close any deal, any time, any way. He has set his sights on New Age guru Dr. Sinja (Cliff Curtis) for his own selfish purposes. But Dr. Sinja is on to him, and Jack's life comes unglued after a magical Bodhi tree mysteriously appears in his backyard. With every word Jack speaks, a leaf falls from the tree and he realizes that when the last leaf falls, both he and the tree are toast. Words have never failed Jack McCall, but now he's got to stop talking and conjure up some outrageous ways to communicate or he's a goner."

This sounded like it had potential. If you took away the words "and conjure up some outrageous ways to communicate", it seems like it could be a fun and touching little movie. Granted, I have not seen it (I haven't even seen any clips), but for those of you who have seen it: what made this movie so god-awful? I know Mr. Murphy hasn't been on a roll lately (as far as live-action comedies go), but this couldn't have been THAT bad to garner a 0%...

[–] Zuider_Zee 12 years ago

It was a comedy without a single laugh.

[–] macgirl66 12 years ago

I thought this film had value, although I missed the very beginning. You need to keep in mind that he could not write without each written word causing more leaves to fall off the tree, so just writing as a means of communication was not a way he could get around not talking.

I was frustrated with how bitchy they wrote the wife. I do realize that they were supposed to be a couple who were already having problems before this incident, but most spouses you would hope would notice when their husbands are going through such a severe crisis. I mean, he was in REAL trouble.

SPOILERS BELOW

I really enjoyed the story arc where he has to re-evaluate his life and how he has managed his relationships. How he has managed his marriage, how he has treated his mother, how he has treated the people he works with. He realizes that the people in his life are the most important and that he has not let them know how much they mean to him. I also did appreciate how much the assistant does to try to understand this weird affliction and all he does to try and save his life. The scene where he wrestles with him and knocks him out and tapes his mouth shut was priceless, especially the comment about school not preparing you for a real life job, or something like that.

I don't know about whether the movie has the right mix of drama and comedy, but I thought it had funny moments dealing with his loss of voice and his fear of dying and serious moments while he contemplates him dealing with how to change his life and what ends he needs to tie up as he truly believes he is going to die very soon. He seems very sincere in his attempts to find ways to do nice things for others and to think about the people that he comes in contact with everyday, like the coffee guy and the car valet guy, etc.

To each their own...opinion