A Thousand Words (2012)

After stretching the truth on a deal with a spiritual guru, literary agent Jack McCall finds a Bodhi tree on his property. Its appearance holds a valuable lesson on the consequences of every word he speaks.

Director:

Brian Robbins

Writer:

Steve Koren

Stars:

Eddie Murphy, Cliff Curtis, Kerry Washington

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eddie Murphy	...	Jack McCall
Kerry Washington	...	Caroline McCall
Emanuel Ragsdale	...	Tyler McCall
Jill Basey	...	Woman in Starbucks
Greg Collins	...	Construction Worker
Robert LeQuang	...	Starbucks Customer
Michael G. Wilkinson	...	Starbucks Customer
Lyndsey Nelson	...	Starbucks Customer
Michael Cody Gilbert	...	Starbucks Customer
Lou Saliba	...	Shrink
John Gatins	...	Valet
Clark Duke	...	Aaron Wiseberger
Cliff Curtis	...	Dr. Sinja
Mitchell Fink	...	Male Agent
Edi Patterson	...	Young Female Agent

Storyline

Jack McCall, played by Eddie Murphy, finds an unusual tree in his yard after an encounter with a spiritual guru. After discovering that with each word he speaks, a leaf drops off of the tree, Jack refuses to speak at all, as doing so will keep the tree, and him, alive. However, his work, marriage, and friendships are all affected by his choice. Can Jack figure out an alternative method of survival? Or will he simply have to live the rest of his life to the fullest?

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Plot Keywords:

liar | tree | guru | spiritual guru | literary agent | 

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Taglines:

Make every word count.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual situations including dialogue, language and some drug-related humor

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 March 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

As Mil Palavras

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,176,280, 11 March 2012, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$18,438,149, 27 May 2012

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks, Saturn Films, Work After Midnight Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmed in 2008, not released until 2012.

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Goofs

When Jack shows Aaron his situation with the tree, he dismisses it as a coincidence to which Jack responds, "It's not a coincidence, you idiot." Aaron notices that the tree lost five more leaves, even though Jack said six words.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Jack McCall: My name is Jack McCall. If you can hear me, what you're listening to is not the sound of my voice. It's the sound of my inner voice, the one inside my head. I'd like to talk to you, but I can't. Because if I say just one more sentence out loud... I'll die.

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Connections

Referenced in One Hit Wonderland: Party All the Time by Eddie Murphy (2013)

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Soundtracks

I Idolize You
Written by Ike Turner
Performed by Lizz Wright
Courtesy of The Verve Music Group
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Eddie's Best Effort in some time....

Eddie has been involved in a lot of crap since the release of "Raw". It's almost as if he felt a debt to society and his family to start making cheesy, family films. The results have been under-whelming to say the least.

This is Eddie's best film in many years. The plot is ridiculous as with much of what he's been associated with of late, but Eddie is on top of his game here. This film is right up there with Eddie's best over the last 2 decades WHICH ISN'T saying much, but it does make it worth the price of admission at the very least. That's to say it's nearly as good as "The Nutty Professor" or "Boomerang", but a clear notch above films like "Bowfinger" and "Norbit".

He's genuinely funny here, but the script isn't all that funny overall. He carries much of the weight with his expressions and physical comedy.

The other saving grace is the heart of the film. The film does carry nice message, and tugs the heartstrings for those who make the time investment on this one.

I was surprised, but that might have had as much to do with my expectations as it did anything else.

I can marginally recommend this for those who like a light-hearted comedy.

Eddie still has it! He does! You get glimpses of it here. All us ole-timers are still waiting for him to tackle a great project with an "R" rating, but this film is far better than it's score here or anywhere else.

Not that I blame the audience - but it seems as if the reputation of Eddie making bad films has put a seriously negative spin on what is actually a decent little film here. Let's not trample on the guy.

My biggest gripe was with one particular scene where the CGI is over-blown and unnecessary but other than that, this film wasn't bad at all.

Scoring it exactly the same as another rental from yesterday, "Thin Ice", 65/100, and rounding it to 7. I don't feel bad about it either.

Not nearly as bad as I had anticipated.

You might like this if you liked: Yes Man(slightly better or even), The Nutty Professor(slightly better or even), and Bruce Almighty(slightly better).