'Fighting Words'

An engrossing tale about the surprisingly cutthroat world of competitive poetry.

Unless they're famous for being epically self-destructive or leading extraordinarily adventuresome lives or are cut down tragically in the prime of life — or better yet, all three, poets are generally not the stuff of movies, either fictional or biographical.

This did not stop E. Paul Edwards, a writer with TV credits and some film scripts under his belt, from making his directorial debut with his well-wrought screenplay for his offbeat and engrossing "Fighting Words." His hero, a talented young poet Jake (Jeff Stearns), is a perfectly normal guy frustrated over the struggle to survive. Jake, a warehouseman, wants people to listen to his words and maybe win a little recognition as well.

To that end he's a regular at a bar run by Gabriel (Fred Williamson), a poetry lover who holds open-mike readings and slams. One evening Jake recites a truly beautiful poem that soars only to lose a slam to a poet who has written a comical work celebrating the glories of condoms. Jake is understandably overtaken by anger and sarcasm, but Marni (Tara D'Agostino), a young woman in the audience, is not only moved by the poem but she also can see beyond his moodiness.

Marni works for a publisher (the late Edward Albert) who is willing to publish poetry, but it takes no small effort on her part to cut through Jake's cynicism and persuade him to let her promote his work without exploiting him. Skittish mutual trust grows along with mutual attraction between Jake and Marni, who is facing a major issue in her personal life. When they fall in love, this issue creates unforeseen challenges yet unleashes a whole new dimension to Jake's poetry.

Edwards unfolds a familiar plot amid a distinctive milieu — who would have thought that poetry can actually be marketed and that a talented poet could conceivably be positioned to land advertising slogan gigs far more lucrative and far less time-consuming than working in a warehouse? Or, for that matter, that poetry competitions could be so cutthroat?

Edwards brings alive this special world of competitive poetry along with creating unapologetically intelligent key characters. It is as possible to believe that Stearns' Jake is a gifted poet as it is that D'Agostino's Marni knows how to develop his talent and career. The stars are solidly supported by C. Thomas Howell as Jake's ferociously unscrupulous rival; Williamson as Gabriel, Jake's no-nonsense mentor; Michael Parks as one of Gabriel's regular customers, unscrupulous behind a garrulous old codger facade; Albert as Marni's overly prissy boss; and Fred Willard as the witty, energetic host of an important poetry slam.

Edwards proves a skilled writer of depth and ingenuity — e.g., he punctuates the progress of Jake and Marni's story with apt recitations by actual poets of their work — and his unpretentious style builds to a climactic sequence of deeply involving suspense. The result is a solid first film that suggests Edwards might well consider moving beyond conventional plotting, even though it serves his purpose here, enabling him to discover ways in which to bring to his images and style the intensity and punch of his words.