In th 1960s, Bob Kearns (Greg Kinnear) is a professor of engineering at a state university in Detroit. In his spare time, he works on his own inventions in his basement. He is married to Phyllis (Lauren Graham), a schoolteacher, and they have six children. Bob was blinded in one eye in an accident with a champagne cork on their wedding night and has been interested ever since in the way the eye works and the body adapts to difficult situations. One day while driving in the rain with his family, he wonders whether a windshield wiper could be designed to work just like a blinking eye. Bob tackles the project in his workshop, enlisting the assistance of his sons. He comes up with the intermittent windshield wiper and convinces his friend Gil Previck (Dermot Mulroney) to help him take the product to market.
Gil sets up a meeting with the engineers at the Ford Motor Company who have been working on a new windshield wiper design. Bob demonstrates his invention and they are astonished. Soon Ford is asking for price estimates on his wiper. But after Bob sets up a family company to manufacture the part himself for a Ford contract, he learns from Gil that the auto giant wants out. When their new line of cars is unveiled, Bob discovers that his windshield wiper is installed on them. Convinced that Ford has stolen his invention, determined to get credit for his invention and an apology from the company that dashed his family's dreams, Bob decides to take them on in a lawsuit.
No one believes that he can win. Bob hires a top-notch lawyer, Gregory Lawson (Alan Alda), who at first is pleased to take the case. But he resigns after Bob repeatedly refuses to take a settlement offer from Ford. After years of watching her husband obsess over the case, Phyllis leaves; his children are also disillusioned. Still he perseveres, even going so far as to study law books so he can represent himself.
Flash of Genius is a stirring drama based on the true story of part-time inventor Robert Kearns. Marc Abraham directs from a screenplay by Philip Railsback (The Stars Fell on Henrietta) that is based on John Seabrook's article in The New Yorker. Watching this David vs. Goliath battle unfold on the screen we were reminded of Robert Kennedy's famous quotation:
"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
What no one seems to understand is that for Bob, success is not defined by money. He is standing up for the ideal of credit given where credit is due. He wants Ford to acknowledge his invention and that they were wrong to use it. In the process, this engineer stands up for all other inventors who have seen their patents infringed upon by large corporations with plenty of money and power. Flash of Genius celebrates one man's arduous and lonely crusade against injustice. It's a story told with passion and honor.
Special DVD features include deleted scenes with a commentary by director Marc Abraham and a feature commentary with director Abraham.
