The United States Supreme Court, as a test to establish patentability, coined the term "flash of genius" in 1941. In short, an inventor needed to have experienced a moment of clarity in which everything came together in his or her mind to inspire their new creation. It is this notion that helped inventor Robert Kearns win a 12-year legal battle with the Ford Motor Co. over the intermittent windshield wiper. Flash of Genius tells the arduous tale of Kearns’ hard-fought victory over Ford, and the numerous pitfalls the inventor experienced along the way.
A college professor in the ’60s, Kearns (Greg Kinnear) is also an independent inventor. Over the years, he’d conceived various contraptions with little to show for it, always hoping for his big breakthrough. Finally, one day while driving home from church in the rain, Kearns has his flash of genius – the intermittent windshield wiper.
Unlike standard windshield wipers of the time, which could only work at one frequency, Kearns’ invention introduced adjustable settings with different degrees of delay between wipes. His model remains the basic framework for windshield wipers to this day.
Using his engineering expertise, Kearns constructs a prototype model, which he dubs the "Kearns blinking eye wiper." With the help of his friend Gil Privick (Dermot Mulroney), he presents his invention to Ford in hopes of licensing his brand of wiper. Ford rejects his proposal, but not before convincing Kearns to allow it to borrow his prototype for closer examination. When Ford begins installing intermittent wipers in its vehicles the following year, Kearns is outraged.
This sends Kearns on a decades-long mission for retribution. Kearns’ obsession costs him not only the best years of his life, but his family and at one point, his sanity as well.
Kinnear gives a layered, yet earnest performance as Kearns that is sure to generate Oscar buzz in the coming season. He brings an instant likeability to the role, which plays into the underdog nature of his character as he takes on the corporate titan that is Ford. The emotional range displayed by Kinnear is impressive, as the film covers more than 20 years of Kearns’ life and the vast array of ups and downs he experiences throughout his obsessive mission for recognition.
The story of Robert Kearns is nothing short of a tragedy. His continued refusals to accept perfectly reasonable amounts of monetary compensation due to his need for credit could be seen as the ultimate tale of perseverance, but at what cost? The loss of his family surely makes it an empty victory.
Wisely, the film chooses not to address the rights or wrongs of his choices, simply presenting the events as they were and allowing audiences to draw their own conclusions as to whether Kearns’ quest was worth it after all.
