A THOUSAND WORDS

Recently, I watched A ‘Thousand Words,’ a comedy-drama about a literary agent named Jack
McCall. ‘A Thousand Words’ is directed by Brian Robbins. The film stars Eddie Murphy as Jack
McCall. It is about McCall, a successful literary agent who prioritizes work over his family, who
later on is cursed where each of his words will cause a leaf from a tree that symbolizes himself,
and if the tree runs out of leaves, he will die.

The plot focuses on McCall, who has been cursed and has been connected to a mysterious tree.
Everything that happens to the tree will happen to McCall as well. Every time he speaks a word,
it will cause a leaf to fall, meaning he only has one thousand words, and once the tree runs out of
leaves, he will immediately die. The story revolves around Jack realizing that he must be careful
with what he says, saving as many words as he can. Leading to changes in how he interacts with
his family, friends, coworkers, and investors, and the outcome is not that good.

The plot twist of the story is when McCall uses almost all of his words by singing; luckily his
assistant is there, knocking McCall and putting a tape on his mouth. McCall woke up and
realized that it was his last day, so he now listens carefully to his heart to know what he really
wants to do, and the film reaches its climax when Jack McCall finally decides to use all of his
words to fix everything up. He goes to his wife Caroline and says that he loves her; he buys the
book of the writer that he's been ignoring for months; he observes people on the beach; and
finally he goes to his mother. As he was mistaken for his father, his mother told him that she is so
proud of him, but she dislikes Jack’s hatred in his heart, and she believes that it is time to let go
of the grudge he holds against his father. After that, Jack tells her mother that he loves her.

I favor this movie because it shows how powerful our words can be; even a single word can
make a whole difference. I really love the film because it gives lessons that we can use for our
daily lives— that it is not about the quantity, it is about the quality of what you’re saying. I really
find this film really entertaining because of how amazing Eddie Murphy played the role and very
heartwarming at the same time since he chose to fix his relationships with other people even
though he will suffer for it, but I guess there’s no suffering if you have no regrets. I can’t imagine
how frustrating it is that you cannot express the things that you wanted to say, especially to your
loved ones. The thing I like about this movie is that it’s very easy to understand, and the face
expressions of Eddie Murphy are very on point.

As a student, this film can help me to become a better speaker, listener, and be better at overall
communication. Knowing that I must think first before I speak will help me to avoid
misunderstandings, arguments, and things that I might regret telling. The film made me realize
that I must express my thoughts, ideas, and feelings even more, especially to my loved ones.
That the simplest words that I thought were unnecessary to say can sometimes be the words that
the people that surround me wanted to hear. I admire his dedication to change or fix things up
with all his heart.

Because of the film, I understand more the proverb “actions speak louder than voice.” Rather
than being the speaker all the time, let's sometimes be a listener, let other people express their
own thoughts and opinions, and maybe we’ll learn a lot from them. In the part where Jack
McCall and his mother had a conversation, by listening to her, Jack gained a lot of insights and
was able to understand that even though his father abandoned him, his father always loves him,
and he must now forgive him and move on. He goes to his father’s grave and forgives his father,
spending his last words. After forgiving his father, the tree blooms and gains its life again,
marking as the new beginning, new life as Jack and the tree are connected.

In the film, Jack McCall prioritizes his career and interests over those who are close to him,
causing bad relationships or connections, particularly with his wife and son. McCall, as a literary
agent, is used to manipulating other people for his own benefit, and sometimes he doesn't care
about other people's emotions. This made me realize that prioritizing relationships with others is
much more important than focusing too much on a career or even my own interests. It's not bad
to prioritize your career sometimes; it's a normal thing to do, especially since we have our own
needs and wants, but do not forget those who are around us, specially our loved ones. I hope my
future self won't take relationships for granted, as McCall did, and I hope I won't see career as
something more important than relationships with other people.

The only thing I dislike about this movie is that the storyline is predictable, that Jack McCall
will have a character development throughout the story, and he will fix what he has broken.
There's also no thrill about the solution to his problem since it is quite obvious. His death and
being alive again are quite easy to predict, and since he is the protagonist, of course there will be
a happy ending. In this kind of movie, it feels less engaging to wait for the plot twist or any
surprises. Despite being predictable, at least there's a lesson that we can use in real-life scenarios.

All in all, A Thousand Words is about a literary agent named Jack McCall who prioritizes his
career and his own interests more than his relationships with others and their emotions. Later on
in the film, McCall has been cursed and been connected with a tree. Everything that happens to
the tree will happen to him also. Each time he speaks a word, a leaf will fall, and if the tree runs
out of leaves, he will die. I would recommend this to my family and friends. It's a must-watch!