I hate when movie trailers try to build their films into something they're not.

Usually when this kind of movie-gussying pops up, it's a necessary – but still sneaky – evil to put butts in the seats ("The Village," anyone?). In the case of "The Words," however, I was pleasantly surprised to find a rich and articulate story under the "thriller" guise its trailers had put on.

I can understand why they did it. The plot is complex and kind of difficult to sum up in one or two minutes of preview footage (or in this case, a few sentences). At its heart is Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper), a struggling young writer who stumbles upon a compelling narrative and publishes it under his own name, bringing him both resounding success and dire consequences.

Surrounding this narrative is the exterior world, in which author Clay Hammond (Dennis Quaid) is giving a reading from his own blockbuster novel, "The Words," which is where Rory's tale actually resides. So, we have a movie, "The Words," about a book, also called "The Words," which is a tale about Jansen's plagiarized work, which he calls "The Window Tears."

Still following along? Good, because it's not nearly that complicated on screen. Writer/director duo Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal have pieced these parallel narratives together with a skill that belies their relative rookie careers in Hollywood.

Their screenplay delves into each storyline with precise craftsmanship, balancing the two and even managing to gracefully weave in one layer further – the plot of Jansen's stolen novel – and the events surrounding it, as recounted by its original author (played to perfection by an aptly world-weary Jeremy Irons).

What ensues is not the dark and winding thriller the trailers made "The Words" out to be, but rather an emotionally dense drama that chronicles each story's main character, his actions and consequences, and the sadness, frustration, anger and guilt that result. It's a very literary – and consequently risky – method, but it transfers well onto the screen.

I had some issues with the ending, which wraps both Rory and Clay's stories ambiguously and introduces some weird kind of moral issue that was left messy and unresolved, but it's so brief – and the rest of the movie is so well done – it's easily forgiven. "The Words" may not be the lit-world thriller it's making itself out to be, but it definitely offers a beautiful and artistic movie experience.