Bad Words

The End Justifies the Means.

Up until this week, I hadn't heard of Bad Words. After this week, I'm left wishing I still hadn't.

Bad Words was actor Jason Bateman's (film) directorial debut. It was also writer Andrew Dodge's first movie as well. I think it showed a lot.

OK, yes, the movie had some funny moments. But overall, it just wasn't good. The jokes were crude and predictable. The characters were cookie cutter. The story was sub par. To be honest, even the movie title was pretty bad.

As far as the story goes (AND YES, THERE ARE SPOILERS HERE), Jason Bateman plays Guy Trilby, a 40-something former spelling bee competitor and loser, that finds a loophole in the bee's bylaws that allows him to compete. Against 8th graders. Really?

And to top it all off, you don't even find out why he has this need to tear down little kids and compete in their competition until the very end of the movie. Yea. The main plot point isn't even explained until the last 15 minutes or so. I could understand this if the movie started there (or a little before) and had another bit of story after, but no.

Bad Words gets a bad 4 stars

Overall, the movie was not that great. The reactions of the other characters to Guy (and relationships with him) are what allows this movie to be bearable. That's not saying the characters were good, in fact only a couple were worth seeing. You can see this movie if you want, but it won't affect your life if you don't.

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