Right in the middle of “Genius,” there’s one long sequence that perks up an otherwise sleepwalking movie. The film is a literary biopic about the Depression-era partnership of novelist Thomas Wolfe (played by Jude Law) and editor Maxwell Perkins (Colin Firth).
Wolfe is rhapsodic and undisciplined, disposed to wheeling his bloated manuscripts into Perkins’ office in giant crates. Perkins is meticulous in trying to whittle Wolfe’s writing into publishable shape.
The sequence in question has the two tussling over a paragraph that describes a character falling instantly in love. As you listen to the back-and-forth between author and editor, you get a rare glimpse into what actually goes into writing — how each word must be weighed and measured, how tasty lines might be sacrificed for the overall flow.
That’s terrific. What if a whole movie were like this? It would be an experiment, because most films about writers are actually about drinking and bad behavior.
There is drinking and bad behavior in “Genius,” but precious little insight. Written by John Logan (“Gladiator”), the film sets up a simplistic division between its two central characters and basically repeats itself thereafter.
The dapper Jude Law is miscast as the circus-tall Southerner Wolfe (the author of “Look Homeward, Angel” and “You Can’t Go Home Again”), but the actor certainly gives his all to the role. Nicole Kidman is quietly good as Aline Bernstein, the married woman who nurtured Wolfe’s volcanic talent for years.
Firth tries to go minimalist by comparison (he wears a fedora in almost every scene, as though to show us how clamped-down he is), but he can’t do much with the movie’s conception, which is that Perkins is too uptight and Wolfe is too sloppy.
This idea is at its worst when Wolfe drags his editor to a Harlem nightclub, where he compares his writing to African-American blues and tries to get Perkins to loosen up. The scene is a compendium of clichés, and weirdly out of touch.
There’s room for brief appearances by Perkins’ other literary stars, F. Scott Fitzgerald (Guy Pearce) and Ernest Hemingway (Dominic Cooper). Two strong actors, but they’re around only to live up to the famous stereotypes of their characters.
Director Michael Grandage, a veteran of the stage, renders this world in dank tones. The offices of Scribner and Sons, the famous publisher, are so dim you can’t imagine people getting any reading done there.
More irritatingly, “Genius” sings the praises of Wolfe’s explosive talent but comes across as fussy and prim in its own style. If you’re going to get romantic about a writer, this is not the way to do it.
“Genius” (1½ stars)
A study of the volatile relationship between the rhapsodic novelist Thomas Wolfe (Jude Law) and the meticulous editor Maxwell Perkins (Colin Firth). The movie falls into the clichés of the literary biopic, even though the actors try hard. With Nicole Kidman.
Rated: PG-13, for subject matter
Showing: Meridian, Seven Gables
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