Movie review: A Thousand Words

A blasé guy learns that he has only 1,000 words left to speak before he will die.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

A blasé guy learns that he has only 1,000 words left to speak before he will die. Fast-talking agent Jack’s (Eddie Murphy) insincere patter is his chief weapon, but it irritates his assistant Aaron (Clark Duke), threatens his marriage to Caroline (Kerry Washington) and gets him into trouble repping guru/author Dr. Sinja (Cliff Curtis). Jack suffers karmic repercussions from Sinja’s magical Bodhi tree, which sheds one leaf for each word Jack speaks. After one thousand words, Jack will die. With his life falling apart and the tree running out of leaves, Jack confronts Dr. Sinja and asks how to end the curse. The guru tells him to make peace in all of his relationships. With just one branch of leaves left, Jack tries to reconcile with Caroline, but she remains hesitant. He visits his mother (Ruby Dee), who lives in an assisted-living center and has dementia. She tells Jack, who she thinks is Jack’s late father Raymond, that she wishes Jack would stop being angry at his father for walking out on them when he was a kid. Jack, realizing that this is the relationship that needs the most mending, goes to visit his father’s grave. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but in this one, Eddie Murphy’s character will die after uttering his 1000th. (Or will he?)