Review of Bad Words (2013) by Patrick L — 25 Aug 2014

"Actor now turned director Jason Bateman has made a wickedly funny dark comedy".

Movie Review: Bad Words.

Date Viewed: April 20 2014.

Directed By Jason Bateman.

Written By Andrew Dodge.

Starring: Jason Bateman, Rohan Chand, Kathryn Hahn, Allison Janney, Ben Falcone,.

Rachael Harris, Philip Baker Hall, Judith Hoag, Beth Grant, Patricia Belcher, Steve Witting, Anjul Nigam, Michael Patrick McGill,.

Bob Stephenson and Greg Cromer.

Making his directorial debut, Jason Bateman has made a crude and wickedly funny dark comedy. The humor in "Bad Words" may offend some people but this vulgar movie is downright hilarious. Bateman is in full control of this movie, his character may not be likable but I liked this guy. Bateman proves that he can play despicable human beings, even though you may hate this guy, you might root for him as well.

In "Bad Words", Bateman plays Guy Trilby, a 40-year-old middle school dropout who finds a loophole into the rules of the Quill National Spelling Bee by participating in the competition which allows him to compete against fourth-graders. He infuriates the parents of those students but the tournament director Bernice Deagan (Allison Janney) says, "There's nothing we can do about it".

Guy even says nasty things to his competitors, in one scene, an overweight kid asks him "Why are you up here?". He responds "Your chair called me for help". That's just one of the meanest things he does as he works his way into the finals. However, Guy somehow develops a friendship with one of his competitors, an Indian-American named Chaitanya Chopra (Rohan Chand).

Chopra has crooked teeth, wide eyes and he's a complete outcast. He wants to be friends with Guy despite his offensive insults to either at him or the competitors. Kathryn Hahn plays Jenny, an online reporter who finds Guy Trilby to be fascinating even though she is disgusted by his actions. Philip Baker Hall does fine work playing Dr. William Bowman, the individual who founded the tournament.

The ending of the movie does fall apart but "Bad Words" mostly works because of the brave performance from Jason Bateman. His relationship with Chopra is the best element of this filthy dark comedy. It isn't a great first feature from Jason Bateman but it's still worth a look to see how twisted it is.