On 22 December 2024, I watched the bittersweet American fantasy/comedy movie A Thousand Words – a film that I might never have even known about, let alone watched, had it not been for my fortuitous finding a few weeks earlier at an English outdoor car boot sale of a discarded DVD case for this movie. Sadly, the disc itself was missing, but its back cover blurb so intrigued me that I purchased a disc for it online, and now, after watching it, I'm so glad I found that empty case and thereby learned of this delightful film's existence.
Directed by Brian Robbins, who was also one of its several co-producers (so too was American A-list actor Nicolas Cage), and released by Paramount Pictures in 2012 (although filmed in 2008), A Thousand Words stars motor-mouth mega-star Eddie Murphy in, incongruously, an almost silent lead role.
He plays brash literary agent Jack McCall, who originally displays an unassailable ability to talk people into doing whatever he wants, which has resulted in him becoming a thoroughly obnoxious egomaniac, oblivious to the needs of his wife Caroline (Kerry Washington) and their young son Tyler (Emanuel Ragsdale) to receive his love, and those of his co-workers to receive the courtesy and respect that they deserve – especially his youthful, perpetually put-upon and put-down literary assistant Aaron (Clark Duke), and his faithful valet (John Gatins) who harbours aspirations as an author that Jack brusquely waves away.
But when Jack tries to con a New Age guru named Dr Sinja (Cliff Curtis) into selling him the rights to his self-help book, events take a very mystical, mortifying turn.
A supernatural Bodhi tree possessing exactly 1000 leaves magically appears in Jack's garden, and Jack swiftly discovers that every word he speaks (or even writes down) results in a leaf dropping from the tree. Consulting Dr Sinja, Jack is horrified to learn that once the tree loses all of its leaves, both it and Jack will die (clearly this particular guru knows more about spirituality than botany, or he would have been aware that deciduous trees lose all their leaves every autumn/fall, but simply grow a new set the following spring!).
Anyway, much of the movie from then on focuses upon the hapless Jack becoming helplessly and hopelessly but always hilariously caught up in all manner of outlandishly bizarre situations as he frantically strives to communicate without speaking or writing. But ultimately it all proves too much – he finally loses his job, and his wife moves out of their home, taking their son with her. Moreover, due to various unavoidable instances where he has had no option but to speak, there are virtually no leaves left on the tree.
Despondent and desperate, Jack visits Dr Sinja again, who tells him that he has to seek deep inside himself to repair the relationship that has brought him the most pain in his life. Jack's mother Annie (Ruby Dee), whom he does love very much, has dementia, so he visits her at the care-home on her birthday, even though he knows that she will not recognise him, and will mistake him for her deceased husband Raymond, Jack's father, who walked out on them when Jack was only a child, leaving Jack feeling unloved by Raymond and resentful toward him ever afterwards.
Sure enough, his mother once again mistakes Jack for Raymond, telling him how she wishes that their son Jack would forgive him for walking out on them as she knows how much Jack was always loved by him, and that nothing is more important than family.
Never realising until now that his father had indeed loved him, Jack visits his grave and whispers outloud "I forgive you" – and at that same moment the last three leaves fall from the tree, and Jack falls unconscious to the ground. But does he die, or has he found redemption and salvation? Watch this very funny but also very poignant, moving movie and find out.
Some of you know that for many years my beloved little Mom was my only family, so when she passed away eleven years ago, so too did my entire family, and I've been alone ever since. Consequently, when Jack's Mom told him that nothing is more important than family, I began to shed too, just like the tree, except that it wasn't leaves that I was shedding.
Although not a Christmas-themed movie, A Thousand Words exudes a similar festive, feel-good glow, making it perfect viewing for this time of year. It promotes a very important message too: your words are powerful, so never waste them, or use them unkindly – always use them wisely, and kindly, make them count.
Worth mentioning, incidentally, is the notable number of major stars who were variously considered or auditioned for this movie's lead role of Jack McCall that ultimately went to Murphy – they include, for instance, Richard Ayoade, Ice Cube, Will Ferrell (also considered for the role of Dr Sinja), Jamie Foxx, Kevin Hart, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock, Will Smith, and Wesley Snipes. Moreover, Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith were among those considered for the role of Caroline McCall that ultimately went to Kerry Washington.
After I posted a much shorter, preliminary version of this review of A Thousand Words on Facebook earlier today, one reader mentioned to me that the film currently holds a 0% critics approval rating on the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes (though it does also hold a 46% audience approval rating on there), which, quite frankly, is an absurd state of affairs. Having said that, I do tend to find that forums like those on Rotten Tomatoes and other sites that allow reviews to be posted by users tend to attract a disproportionate number of splenetic offerings, from deliberately provocative would-be critics trying to make a name for themselves, whereas more fair-minded users seem less incited or incentivized to post a review. This is a great shame, because it results in many perfectly good movies receiving unjustifiably low ratings, due to the pack-hunting feeding frenzy copycat approach that frequently occurs once a couple of bad reviews have been posted for a given film, with each subsequent reviewer attempting to outdo the previous ones in terms of the bile and venom that they can spill forth.
I personally feel that A Thousand Words is definitely one movie that has suffered from this. Now had it been The Adventures of Pluto Nash (click here to read my thoughts concerning this Eddie Murphy movie), I could have understood it more!
So whereas some professional critics dismissed A Thousand Words back in 2012 as formulaic and outdated, and more recent unprofessional ones have attacked it from all sides, I loved it (as is so often the case with films that critics have disparaged), and I'm sure that plenty of you will too if you get the chance to watch this film, and give it a chance when doing so.
If you would like to view an official trailer for A Thousand Words on YouTube, please click here.
Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
