Flash of Genius thinks it’s an inspirational, based-on-fact, little-man-beats-the-system drama, when in fact it is incredibly depressing. Greg Kinnear stars as Robert Kearns, the college professor and basement inventor who perfected the intermittent windshield wiper in the 1960s only to have the concept stolen from him by the Ford Motor Company. Kearns spent the next 12 years in a legal battle striving to receive proper credit. He eventually wins, but at the cost of alienating his six children and losing his wife (Lauren Graham). The most troubling thing about Flash of Genius is its insistent and misplaced sunniness. Kearns’ ironically lost an awful lot by trying to reclaim something that was stolen from him, and that’s a truth Flash of Genius doesn’t want to face.
