Review of Bad Words (2013) by Mike P — 29 Jul 2014

This unusual black comedy directed by Jason Bateman and written by Andrew Dodge marked Bateman's directorial debut. Just imagine that he stars as a middle-aged eighth grade dropout who enters the National Quill Spelling Bee. Of course, with a story like this, managed to make The Black List in 2011... Luckily for me, It was funny - however, it could be much funnier... the movie also stars Allison Janney, Rachael Harris, Philip Baker Hall, and Kathryn Hahn, and they were all pretty standard!

The story of Guy Trilby (Bateman), was a little mystery... because Guy participates in Spelling Bee competitions for unknown reasons! He is very angry and by finding a loophole in the competition rules, he attends a regional spelling bee, and progresses to the national competition after confrontations with both the parents of children and the spelling bee hosts. Of course, he is not alone and he is always accompanied by his reporter (Hahn), a lady as weird as he is - a relatively unknown journalist hoping to make an online life story out of his participation in the bee. On the flight to the national spelling bee, he meets a boy Chaitanya Chopra (Chand). Chaitanya attempts to befriend Guy several times, but Guy resist, using foul language...

Around 2011, Jason Bateman's agent sent him screenplays for possible directorial work. He was determined and he said to his agent, 'Please don't wait for me to have an opening in my acting schedule to pursue the directing stuff. Understand that I'm only acting to create the kind of relevance or capital necessary to get a directing job. It's really the only reason I've been acting for the last 20 years of this career.' I am glad he got this screenplay. It was a perfectly written for his directing and even acting style, I have to admit. Fresh, unusual, sometimes too direct, but never boring or dragging its feet...