Review of Bad Words (2013) by Mike M — 07 Sep 2014

Hrm... I liked it better when it was called "Bad Santa". This movie is Jason Bateman's directorial debut, and being a big fan of his, I was really rooting for this movie to be good. And while parts of it are good and very funny, the tone and story structure are wildly inconsistent.

It was as if he could not decide if he wanted to make a dark comedy, a romp-comedy, or a redemption story, so he made all three and threw them in a blender. This movie is amoral to the core, which in conjunction with the lewd and often depraved (but hilarious!) dialogue, naturally pushes it towards the dark comedy genre, so of course the dark comedy elements worked really well.

I only wish it had stayed with that style throughout the duration, the movie would have worked much better as a whole. The premise is of course ridiculous (a man with a photographic memory uses a loophole in the rules to compete in a spelling bee), but it revels in its absurdity, and I was able to go with the flow without rolling my eyes at it.

.. at least until the end, when suddenly, this film that totally embraces immorality tried to have a moral. Seriously, why??? Just be a dark comedy or be nothing. All in all, I've seen this story a hundred times and in better versions.

But it's not all bad, Bateman shows promise as a director and the film benefits from his impeccable comedic delivery. As silly and unbalanced as it is, I laughed out loud quite a bit, so if you're into raunch comedy, I'd recommend it.