Time after time, Anerican audiences have stood witness to the fact Inventors have created and continue to create some of the most important breakthroughs in history. As a result, America has become the Land of Opportunity for any young inventor to make his mark in history. However, there are those in high position who believe they are so powerful, they can reach out and steal anything they want with total impunity. This movie is a case in point. The worthy film is called a " Flash of Genius. " It is essentially the story of Bob Kearns (Greg Kinnear) a college professor who in a moment of inspiration, invents a wind shield wiper with an oscillating program. A top executive of the Ford Motor company ( Mitch Pileggi) tries to plays the professor for a fool and disregarding the little man, steals his patents. Though it will take money, time, effort and patience to fight the industrial giant, Kearns risks all to fight for what he believes is the right thing to do. Alan Alda plays a wimp of a lawyer and tries to convince Kearns to take a tiny settlement and give up the fight. Despite the risk of losing his wife, his family and even his sanity, Kearns is determined and creates a wonderful David vs Goliath story. Highly recommended to anyone who believe in fighting with the best weapon of all; the truth. ****

Flash of Genius is the true story of the man who invented the intermittent wiper blade - only to see the Ford Mother company swipe the invention for their own benefit. But of course, this being a Hollywood film, the little guy fights back against the big, mean corporation, losing his family, wife, and sanity in the process.

Bob Kearns (Greg Kinnear) is an engineering professor who comes up with the idea of the intermittent blade while driving his family - wife and six kids - home from church one rainy afternoon. He puts together a prototype and shops it to Ford, which quickly warms to the idea. Then suddenly changes its mind, saying it’s just not ready. And then double-plus suddenly, there are all these Ford cars on the road with those very same wiper blades. This is probably not a coincidence.

What follows is your standard David/Goliath courtroom drama, without the courtroom (save for the finale). Bob fights back against Ford, but no one, not even high-powered attorney Alan Alda, really wants to help. Worse still, Bob doesn’t even want a cash settlement, he wants an apology from Ford, an acknowledgment that they stole his awesome idea. This might surprise you, but they decline to do so.

On the one hand, this is a straightforward story about the little buy fighting back against all odds, taking on the big automakers at a time when the Big Three reigned supreme. After all, Ford has all the time in the world to devote to defending itself against Kearns’ claims, whereas Bob has to scrimp and hope he can make some headway; they can outlast him as surely as a rock can outlast a summer storm. They have resources, and all he has is his devoted family.

Well, not so much. Devoted to a point, perhaps. The strain of the legal battles soon take their toll on Bob and his wife, Phyllis (Lauren Graham),as well as the various kids. Which brings us to the second, even more important, conflict in this story, that between Bob and Everyone Who Means Something To Him.

This is an innocuous, slight movie; it doesn’t grab you so much as kind of pull you along reluctantly, until the final, courtroom scene. The rule for courtroom dramas seems to be this: If the protagonist has been built up sufficiently but the audience does NOT tear up when the inevitable verdict is read, then the movie is a failure. I mean, it’s really not complicated. If there’s no payoff, then everything leading up to that point has been for naught, so everyone involved has to pull off that final scene. The nice thing is that pulling off that scene, otherwise known as manipulating the audience, is pretty elementary, high-school stuff. It’s tough to mess it up.

And they don’t. True to form, that final scene makes up for all the methodical pacing of the other 90 minutes or so. Kinnear’s earnest and well cast, and Graham is a delight as his doting, no-nonsense wife. Alda’s showy role doesn’t really amount to much at all, contrary to what the trailer showed. But all in all, it’s a well done, if somewhat forgettable, movie.

Robert Kearns (Greg Kinnear) is happily married to Phyllis (Lauren Graham) with six children. He's an ethics professor and a mechanical engineer with no manufacturing experience. He does see a problem with his windshield wiper and invents the intermittent windshield wiper. He with the help of Gil Previck (Dermot Mulroney) patent and tries to sell the device. He works with Ford and sets up his own manufacturing plant. However, Ford steals his idea and he struggles to gain redress in court.

This is a small guy being taken advantage by a large corporation. It's a simple idea and a simple underdog story. The drama is straight forward. There are no big unexpected twists. In the end, it is just compelling enough to be good.