A part of me wants to think that Bad Words was Jason Bateman’s reward for having starred in Identity Thief with Melissa McCarthy, a comedy so vile that to find it humorous would be in bad taste. Some will say the same of Bateman’s directorial debut, a dark comedy about a 40-year-old man competing against kids in a national spelling bee.
Bateman is usually milquetoast in his comedic vehicles – the sane one part of an insane ensemble – yet with Bad Words the power of the dark side encourages his foul-mouthed behavior. Those not expecting some profane language will be in for a rude awakening as Andrew Dodge’s script contains its fair share of four-letter words and political incorrectness.
Guy Trilby (Bateman) is a bit of a smart aleck but he’s also smart. Think of him as former Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings only with a sailor’s mouth. Trilby’s best subject is spelling, and he’s decided to take a break from his real job as a proofreader to compete in a national spelling bee. His desire isn’t a trophy or the $50,000 check that goes to the champion speller; no, his motivation is something ancillary to the actual ability to spell words correctly. Guy remains tight-lipped around his sponsor, Jenny (Kathryn Hahn), a reporter for some obscure online-news rag, not wanting to tip his hand.
The sight of seeing a 40-year-old man against ten year olds is intriguing to audiences that have grown tired of seeing the screen littered with man-children. Now we have just one man-child versus a bunch of pre-teens. Having found a loophole in the rules of the national spelling bee (ahem, Guy’s never passed the 8th grade thus making him eligible), Guy uses his photographic mind and years as a proofreader to make him a spelling savant. Along the way to the national stage both the bee’s acting director, Dr. Deagan (Allison Janney), and the chairman, Dr. Bowman (Philip Baker Hall), make valiant attempts to dissuade Guy to withdraw. As the competition intensifies so does his unlikely friendship with a fellow competitor, 10-year-old Chaitanya Chopra (Rohand Chand).
For his debut behind the camera, Bateman has learned a lot from his time in front of a camera in how to deliver a punch-line and have the audience respond in kind with a laugh. Bad Words is not a great comedy by any stretch, but it does have a quite a few laugh-aloud moments. Some come in the form of his sabotaging the younger spellers and the pandemonium that happens the last day of the spelling bee (which airs on national public television).
The comedy’s biggest problem is that it is too economical. It’s the polar opposite of the type of comedies we’ve gotten from Judd Apatow that are long for the point of being long. Whether it was the intent of Dodge’s script to be short and too the point, or the story was truncated in the editing room, we have subplots that pop up and lead nowhere. Most are in relation to characters. Some are thinly written, while others rely on clichés to give the appearance of genuineness. To his credit, though, Bateman forgoes a syrupy resolution near the conclusion and allows Guy to be Guy.
Darkly humorous, Bad Words is profane yet funny, malevolent yet mediocre. Jason Bateman’s likeability keeps the comedy afloat even if Andrew Dodge’s screenplay lacks completeness.
Director: Jason Bateman
Writer: Andrew Dodge
Notable Cast: Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn, Rohand Chand, Philip Baker Hall, Allison Janney
