One Man's 'Flash of Genius'

Flash of Genius opened October 3, starring Greg Kinnear as real life inventor Dr. Robert Kearns, a man whose most successful invention was stolen by the automotive goliaths of the time.

The movie derives its title from the defining aspect of a patent — that the idea being patented displayed a “flash of genius” from the inventor.

The movie opens with a circa-1970s style bus going down the road, suddenly stopped by a pair of police officers. They board the bus and home in on a disheveled man, hair askew, wearing a dirty white t-shirt and plaid housecoat, clutching a cheap paper kite. This is our protagonist.

Dr. Robert Kearns was the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper. However, instead of spending his life inventing, he spent the majority of it fighting injustice. The infringement of his patents by the automobile companies of the 1960s and 1970s, and Kearns’ valiant fight against them, is the heart of this movie.

Flash of Genius

Greg Kinnear, who has carved out quite a career playing offbeat characters, gives an appropriately understated performance as inventor Kearns. Dermot Mulroney plays Gil Privick, Kearns’ childhood friend and business partner, and Lauren Graham of “Gilmore Girls” fame plays Kearns’ wife Phyllis. Alan Alda plays a short but memorable supporting role as Kearns’ attorney.

Puzzled as to why the windshield wiper on his car has only one setting — on — Kearns’ begins tinkering with ideas, trying to figure out some better way of wiping a drizzling rain off his windshield.

Kearns’ preoccupation with his idea will be familiar to many engineers or those with engineers in their lives. Even when Phyllis is in a romantic mood we see Kearns suddenly throw on his coat and rush outside to try out yet another idea. The pursuit of an answer to the currently inadequate windshield wiper is all-consuming for the novice inventor.

Yet, in the first half of the movie Kearns seems to do the impossible — balance his love for invention with love for his family. One scene shows him the garage with two of his boys working on an early version of the intermittent windshield wiper, telling the boys to solder parts and asking for their input.

Greg Kinnear and Lauren Graham in Flash of Genius

As Kearns’ invention takes shape, he and Gil market it to Ford. There is undisguised snobbery towards Kearns, who while a doctor, does not have an Ivy League education or any business experience. This cannot help but endear Kearns further to the audience.

Alas, the somewhat naïve Kearns loses the business deal and has to face the humiliation of watching his intermittent windshield wiper grace Ford cars with absolutely no recognition. Kearns then launches on a legal crusade to right the record and be able to manufacture the wipers himself. He cites Edwin Armstrong, creator of the FM radio, who eventually threw himself from a thirteenth story window after fighting to be recognized for his great idea. Kearns’ zeal reminds one of what John Galt or Hank Rearden would do if their beloved inventions were so cruelly taken from them.

As with most movies inspired by true stories, there are several inconsistencies with reality, but none takes away from the moral and tone of the movie. It is a true David and Goliath story. As stated in the movie, the corporations “have time, money and power on their side” whereas Kearns is just one man fighting to claim ownership of his idea, of a part of himself.

Personally, I find the real story of Dr. Kearns more compelling than the film — a rarity for Hollywood pictures. It appears that in trying to reduce a decades-long struggle into a two hour movie, the writers wound up creating a few situations that ring false for the sake of brevity.

Overall, the movie is entertaining and uplifting, and truly stresses the importance of the individual and his contribution to society. When told that it’s “just a windshield wiper,” Kearns replies, “To you ... to me it’s the Mona Lisa.” Isn’t that what our goals mean to each and every one of us?

Tara Overzat is a University of Florida graduate who formerly taught in Beijing, China. She currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia where she is a paralegal and freelance writer.