Review of Bad Words (2013) by Leon B — 06 Sep 2015

Review:

This movie cracked me up! Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman) is blantantly rude to everyone, kids as well and the fact that he's a 40 year old man trying to win the Spelling Bee contest, which is full of kids, made this movie original and a great watch. While he's on the plane, making his way to the Golden Quill National spelling Bee contest, a ten year old kid keeps on bothering him because he wants to become his friend. No matter how rude Guy is to him, he still wants to be his friend so they end up building a buddy relationship, even though they have to challenge each other in the contest. Guy also has a journalist travelling with him because she wants to find out why he is entering these contests at such an old age. All of the parents are against him because he is so old but he was able to find a loophole in the rules so there is no way to exclude him from the contest. I really liked the buddy relationship with the 10 year old and Guy but it has to be his horrible attitude that cracked me up. When Guys true motivation comes out, it gives the movie a meaning but it didn't take away the comedy element that is throughout the film. It reminded me of Bad Teacher when Cameron Diaz was completely rude to the kids but this movie does have a meaning behind it and it's cleverly written. Anyway, if you want to watch a movie which is full of adult humour then this will definitely make you laugh. Enjoyable!

Round-Up:

This is the first movie directed by Jason Bateman, who also played the lead and it might have made a lose at the box office but I still think that it was a great achievement. His career started in 1981 were he starred in the Little House of the Prairie series and then he became a household name when he took the lead in Teenwolf Too in 1987. He then had roles in many TV series like Valerie, Simon and Chicago Sons and then he started to get some juicy roles for the big screen in movies like Starsky & Hutch, Dodgeball, the Break-Up, the Kingdom, Juno, Hancock, State of Play, Paul and Up in the Air. He's hasn't got that many tools in the box but he does have a unique comedic style which really worked in the Horrible Bosses franchise and the Change-Up which also starred Ryan Reynolds. His dry humour really worked in this film, especially the scenes when his with his little side kick but it's such a shame that this film might go under the radar. His next movie, the Family Fang, which stars Christopher Walken and Nicole Kidman, is a dramatic movie which will show a different side to Bateman acting skills, after starring in so many comedies. Although he has starred in a lot of movies, he hasn't done anything that has amazed the audiences yet but I'm sure that he will be up for an Oscar soon. .

Budget: $10million.

Worldwide Gross: $8million.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their comedy/dramas about a 40 year old man who finds a loophole in the spelling bee contest which means that he can enter against young kids. 6/10.