The film's major drawback is its unintentional drone-like quality. It's poorly lit and the somber production design becomes a grind rather than looking like one.
Comment
10/03/08
Flash of Genius (2008)
58
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:103
Fresh:60
Rotten:43
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: The touching underdog story of a single guy against a massive corporation, Flash of Genius is a well-paced and well-written tale with a standout performance by star Greg Kinnear.
Theatrical Release:Oct 3, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $4,234,040
Synopsis: Veteran producer Marc Abraham makes his feature film debut with FLASH OF GENIUS, based on a true story set in Detroit and spanning multiple decades. Dr. Robert Kearns (Greg Kinnear) has a good... [More]
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Lauren Graham, Dermot Mulroney, Alan Alda
Director: Marc Abraham
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Reviews for Flash of Genius
just about everyone not named Trump or Gates will be rooting for this underdog to get what is rightfully his
10/03/08
The film never rises above its mundane subject matter, and it certainly doesn't do anything to distinguish itself from any other run-of-the-mill fact-based drama about One Man fighting against The System.
10/02/08
"Flash of Genius" is a film that is desperately in search of one--some burst of inspiration that would transform it from the paint-by-numbers inspirational saga that it is into something deeper and better.
10/02/08
The film rests easily on Kinnear's narrow but sturdy shoulders.
10/02/08
Is being proved right worth the cost to the man and his family? "Flash of Genius" answers this: yes and no.
10/02/08
a cut-and-dried underdog story
10/02/08
Director Mark Abraham gives the film a gritty authenticity, and he shows us the price Kearns and his family pay for his dedication and stubbornness.
10/02/08
There's definitely hope for an industry that can still make a movie as good as Flash of Genius about a subject as difficult as intellectual property rights.
10/02/08
A kamikaze flight of a movie that presents itself like a weighty Oscar contender. If there were a category for Best Unintentional Self-Parody, it would be a shoo-in.
10/02/08
It's the individual story, fleshed out by Philip Railsback's intelligent script, that makes the audience care.
10/02/08
Flash of Genius takes an uninteresting idea -- on the surface, at least -- and actually makes it even less interesting than it already would be.
10/02/08
I would have been much more enthusiastic about this film if it had emphasized the moral corruption of the American system of civil justice than just heaping all of the blame on Ford.
10/02/08
This movie doesn't really offer anything new, but the quiet, meditative execution was refreshing.
10/02/08
Flash of Genius has its corn, its conflation, its composite characters. But Kinnear does what he's done in the past: You underestimate the guy's acting chops, and suddenly, strikingly, he floors you.
10/02/08
A stand-up-and-cheer story that doesn't feel like it's pushing butts out of seats.
10/02/08
Flash Of Genius has all the pleasures of an underdog film and none of the guilt of being pandered, patronized, and fed a feel-good moral.
10/02/08
With minimal saccharine emotions and a reliance on low-key realism, Flash of Genius is a formulaic underdog tale carried out with decided intelligence.
10/02/08
Genius is appealing, and while the story is an odd one, it remains an intriguing observation of underhanded corporate business practices told through formulaic melodramatic trappings.
10/02/08
Kinnear takes the star spot in Flash of Genius and rides it to glory.
10/02/08
Top CriticLatest News for Flash of Genius
March 17, 2009:
Five Favourite Films with Greg Kinnear
How do you describe the career of a guy who started as the host of Talk Soup on E! and within five years was Oscar nominated for a role opposite Jack Nicholson? Greg Kinnear is... More...
February 16, 2009:
RT on DVD: High School Musical 3 or Midnight Meat Train?
It's a good week for mediocre films (Body of Lies, Changeling, Quarantine and Flash of Genius, which all walk a fine line between Fresh and Rotten) and an even better one if... More...
October 02, 2008:
Box Office Guru Preview: Chihuahua to Overtake Multiplexes
Hollywood kicks off the fourth quarter with a stampede of new releases that will test the elasticity of the marketplace. Ambulances are already on standby to rush the high... More...
September 02, 2008:
After 15 Years, Abraham's Flash of Genius Strikes 
Why make your directorial debut on a movie about the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper? For Marc Abraham, it came down to a matter of principle. More...
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