5/5 Knock 'em out Kearns
  by Francis James (East Coast)
This was one of the better movies i watched this year. I really enjoyed Kearns one man fight to show that a corporate giant stole his idea. It wasn't about the money, just wanted ford to own up to stealing his invention. Not sure if the real life story was played out this way but this is a keeper.

4/5 Being genius is costly
  by Reader (Boca Raton, FL)
"Flash of Genius" movie was made after article about inventor Bob Kearns published in the New Yorker magazine. Last time I read compelling personal story, it was about the "Orchid Thief". This time around the story was just as good. Greg Kinnear's performance in the film is amazing.

It is when someone sees movies like this one, about the middle-class man with one great idea who gets cheated by the major corporation that we all get thinking that perhaps big corporations deserve to suffer after decades of abusing their power against a regular man. It is a story of a man who would not settle for anything less than acknowledgement of his due credit ofr the intermittent windshield wiper idea he came up with. His hard won battle came at the steep price.

This is a story about a man who had principle, drive and compulsive desire for recognition of the best invention of his life. Film drags at times, but actors provide story that is both inspirational and cautionary.

5/5 Hard To Watch, But Worth The Effort
  by Karen Joan (Texas)
We never really wonder where all the little niceties of life come from - the three way light bulb, the tv remote, the automatic thermostat, or the ice maker, just to name a few. These devices make our days easier, with little to no fanfare. We are so used to such conveniences that we never see them, and we certainly never think about them. This film, FLASH OF GENIUS, is the story of the man who invented one such convenience device, the intermittent windshield wiper. Do you even remember a time before we had them? I don't; I mean, not really. Oh, I do know that there were invented in my lifetime, but I certainly don't think about them or really remember when they came into being. But now, I expect every car on the road to have them.

The intermittent windshield wiper was invented by Robert Kearns, a college professor and regular family man with a lovely wife and a passel of kids. FLASH OF GENIUS is his story. His life is completely changed when he invents the mechanism that allows drivers to control the interval between the "blinking" of the blades on a windshield wiper. Dr. Kearns patents his invention and takes it to the Ford Motor Company. Ford is VERY interested (Bob Kearns has done what all the Ford engineers have failed to do) but in the end, they refuse to give him a contract. When Dr. Kearns later learns that Ford has installed the intermittent wipers on their cars, he takes the Ford Motor Company to court for patent infringement, but finds that he is David to their Goliath. They drag out his case nearly 30 years. Bob ends up in a psychiatric hospital, with no family, few friends, and nothing to show for his ingenuity. In the end, Bob does triumph. But was it worth the horrible price?

As I said earlier, FLASH OF GENIUS is a very difficult movie to watch. You ache for this man, as Ford beats him down over and over again. Their treatment of him is detestable and painful to watch as he loses more and more of his life, and it is a testament to Robert Kearns' internal strength and perseverance that he keeps trying.

Greg Kinnear gives the performance of a lifetime as Robert Kearns. Kinnear makes this bumbling, awkward, naïve professor sympathetic and real. The rest of the supporting cast does a fine job, but this is Kinnear's movie. Even a superbly acted appearance by Alan Alda does nothing to lessen the focus on Kinnear's character.

FLASH OF GENIUS unfolds quite slowly, quietly reeling the viewer in. You become emotionally invested in the story. I can't say I "enjoyed" this film, but I certainly found it worth watching. I learned a thing or two, which is one of the main reasons, IMHO, to watch a movie in the first place. And I must say that I will never look at my windshield wipers, the Ford Motor Company, or unsung inventors the same way ever again. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.


3/5 Just OK
  by Coronet Blue (California)
While its nobody's fault, this story starts with 2 strikes against it. First, (I presume) everybody knows the outcome. Second, the invention, while handy as a screwdriver, just doesn't seem worth getting all excited about. Perhaps in Seattle. There are much richer films about the little guy like Mr. Smith Goes To Washington and in non-fiction, the one with Russel Crowe vs. the tobacco companies. That's not to say Flash is bad; its just not very exciting and it takes as long as the actual case did.

What would make a more interesting, true story? How about that of Major Armstrong, who invented FM radio and was driven to suicide while trying to collect royalties from RCA. His widow ultimately prevailed when case was settled, about 40 years later. And what about Tom Scholz vs. his record company? I'm sure there are others.

4/5 A HEARTWARMING DAVID-BEATS-GOLIATH STORY
  by David R. Eastwood (Long Island, NY)
FLASH OF GENIUS is a based-on-fact film that presents one more instance of a big company stealing from a lone inventor. Perhaps you already know how Edwin Howard Armstrong, the inventor of FM radio, was ripped off? Or Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of television?

Usually big companies are able to get away with their thefts. Their executives and employees are often willing to lie, they can afford lawyers who can tie cases up in court for decades, and sometimes they can even buy congressional support. Remember what disastrous things happened to Preston Tucker in Francis Ford Coppola's TUCKER: THE MAN AND THE DREAM starring Jeff Bridges?

In this film, in an unusual turn of events, the little guy wins. Bob Kearns (played earnestly by Greg Kinnear) is a college physics professor who invented the intermittent windshield wiper, demonstrated it to Ford Motors (who agreed to let him supply his new wiper to them)--and then found they were manufacturing intermittent wipers for themselves using his design.

After years of frustration, heartbreak, and battles with Ford Motors, Kearns earns a heartwarming victory in court--but at great cost to himself and to his family. This is a film that will simultaneously fill you with admiration for the little guy--and disgust for the unethical behavior of money-hungry business executives.