Review: 'Bad Words' (2014)

Focus Features

Bad Words is a comedy that relies on exactly what its title is: bad words. This works at times as there are plenty of laughs in store.  The problem is that, when it comes to the films narrative, it tries to be bigger and more important than it really is. In an attempt in doing this, Bad Words keeps one big secret. This works until this big secret is revealed at which time things go downhill fast. 

Bad Words dives into the world of competitive spelling as Guy Trilby wants to be the National Quill Spelling Bee Champion. The problem is that Guy is age 40 and the competition is for grade school children but after studying the rules and regulations frontwards and backwards, Guy finds a major loophole. Guy is an 8^th grade dropout, making him eligible for the competition. As he easily makes it to the national level of the tournament, he angers parents, Spelling Bee director (Allison Janney) and the Bees founder (Phillip Baker Hall). The question that they are all asking is why Guy is so hell-bent on winning. The answer is something that he refuses to share.

If you are a Jason Bateman fan then you should highly consider giving Bad Words a chance. For the most part, it is all him in several different ways. As the lead, Bateman is in nearly every scene but for the first time in his film career he is also calling the shots as director of the film. Other than the film moving along at an appropriate pace, there is really nothing about his directorial efforts that stand out enough to brag about but on the other side the camera is another story.

Bateman does all he can to carry the film and does exactly that for the first two acts of the film. I have always admired Bateman’s voice of reason, rational approach to a comedic role and a lot of this can be seen in Bad Words but given the crude antics and mind set of Guy there is also a heavy amount of chaos to his performance.

The only thing keeping Bateman from entirely taking over is Rohan Chand (coming a long way since his first film Jack and Jill) as fellow spelling bee contestant Chaitanya. As Guy befriends Chaitanya, Chand pours needed innocence and naivety in to the character, complimenting Bateman’s hardened Guy well.

When it comes to story, it quickly becomes clear that Bad Words is going to live or die by the reason why Guy is competing in the Spelling Bee, something he will not reveal to anyone, not even Jenny (Kathryn Hahn), a reporter who consistently follows and sleeps with him in an attempt to get the truth. This plot strategy works for a while. The idea of not knowing and wondering exactly why he is doing what he is goes hand in hand with the type of goofy premise the film has to offer. You know that the whole thing a bit outlandish but a solid reveal could make for a strong plot.

Just as the humor that comes from the spelling bee setting begins to wear off, this big reveal is made. Unfortunately this is where the audience is robbed of a solid comedy that also happens to be a good movie. It is one of those “that’s it?” moments and from this moment on, the film ends poorly. It is a flat ending that doesn’t really know where to stop, which has a lot to do with the poor plot reveal.

With all of this said tough, it may be important to ask what is Bad Words trying to accomplish? Is it trying to be crude comedy or a compelling drama? It seems like a dumb question to ask but if you tend look at comedy’s plot to closely like I do you will most likely disappoint yourself. Now I’m not saying that because Bad Words is a comedy, the plot gets a total pass and what I explained in the above paragraph doesn’t matter. Every movie should have the goal to be a good movie. What I am saying is that Bad Words entertains with crude humor. This goal of the film can be seen very quickly in to the film. There are plenty of laughs so although it may not be a great movie there is some fun to be had.

Grade: C