Based on a 1993 New Yorker article, this attractive and watchable film from Marc Abraham is a quirky true-life biopic about a maverick who took on the corporations and won a victory for the little guy, and for the talented individual who's liable to get ripped off by big business.
Greg Kinnear plays Bob Kearns, an engineering professor and amateur inventor who in the late 1960s invented the intermittent windscreen wiper - an achievement that had eluded the white-coated R&D teams at Ford, Chrysler and the rest. When he naively showed them his plans, they carefully studied them and then airily announced they were coming to the same conclusion anyway, so they had no intention of paying Kearns a red cent.
The film shows how Kearns doggedly sued them for patent infringement, a legal battle that took an awful toll on his family life and mental health. It's a movie that runs on pretty familiar rails, but with an unusual and worthwhile story to tell.