Bad Words
Bad Words plays out as a farce that (sadly) just isn’t all that insightful, witty, or creative with how it approaches its premise - one that is innately kind of funny, but only goes so far.
Bad Wordsstars Jason Bateman as Guy Trilby , a 40 - class one-time reader for warranties ( and unapologetic misanthropist ) , who - because he dropped out of mediate - schooling so many age earlier - is able-bodied to exploit a loophole in the rules for the Golden Quill National Spelling Bee , which allow him to compete alongside the various over - achieving pre - in high spirits schoolers in the case . Guy ’s glorious understanding of the English oral communication - couple with his willingness to psyche out the much - jr. contention - shortly bring down him a situation in the Golden Quill finals , much to the dismay of the other contestants ' parent .
However , obstacles soon introduce themselves in the form of competition functionary Dr. Bernice Deagan ( Allison Janney ) - who is determined to put an end to Guy ’s genus Circus - deed - and 10 - class older Chaitanya Chopra ( Rohan Chand ) , a precocious and over - enthusiastic Golden Quill dissident who inexplicably claim a liking to Guy . Meanwhile , online journalist Jenny Widgeon ( Kathryn Hahn ) - who is funding Guy ’s antics - continues to push her subject to answer the interrogative sentence on everybody ’s mind : Why would a grown - humanity so willingly do all of this , eff that it will work him nothing but reject from the public ?
Bad Wordsis the feature film - length directorial debut for Bateman , who drew from an original screenplay - one which made the 2011 Hollywood Black List of Best Unproduced Scripts - written by proportional newcomer Andrew Dodge . Unfortunately , Bad Wordsdoesn’t make a stiff impression , as it ’s count down by too much uninventive and repetitious humor ( couple on with weak storytelling , on the whole ) .
Behind the photographic camera , Bateman manages to gather select sequence that allow for a good impression - including an in effect silent comedy collage and some interesting framing . Yet , at other times , the movie ’s ultra - down in the mouth budget ( coupled with Bateman ’s lack of directing experience out of doors of the television receiver medium ) results in sticky camera work and cinematography . It does n’t facilitate that the redaction by Tatiana S. Riegel ( Fright Night ) has a high-risk tendency to be falloff , giving upgrade to comical exchange and scenes that do n’t have much rhythm to them .
Dodge ’s script has a average - spirited premise with a nasty sense of humor , in the vein of something likeBad Teacher . Unfortunately , its joke do n’t have much bite , in no small part because they ’re often formulaic . The terminal result is a movie that feels like a very long sitcom , albeit one where the protagonist is allowed to nonchalantly make R - Rated non - PC jokes . Bad Wordsnever take off as satire either , though it frequently toys with the idea - by starting to spit the institution at the core of its plot of ground ( for example bemock parents who push their kids to acquire no matter what the price ) - but never fully does , sorry to say .
That ’s also unsatisfying because Dodge ’s book does have a simple , yet smart through - line ( i.e. that canonical actions can be more harmful than even the worst of words ) . Some of the skilful part of the pic address this idea , through Bateman ’s solid dramatic carrying out - that which subtly pass the emotional hole at the shopping mall of this otherwise prickly , nasty - mouthed humans named Guy . Unfortunately , that material is too slight , too previous , result in a film that ’s only sporadically queer , until it assay to get all fond and gooey on you , while still being as " edgy " as it was before .
Bateman , as suggest before , does bring in more profoundness to the Guy Trilby character than the script manages . He ’s also able to get more milage out of the flick ’s publish jokes than someone else might have , through his usual tart timing and deadpan delivery . All the same , no matter what antiblack , hateful and/or rude affair the Guy fictional character order , it ’s never sincerely disgraceful ( much less , shockingly funny ) , and he ’s not given enough humanity to make his behaviour convincing as a defence mechanics that induce him empathic .
Rohan Chand ( Jack and Jill ) as Chaitanya is agreeably promising - eyed and cheery , which allow his character to have decent interpersonal chemistry with Bateman ’s Guy . However , the plot line that follows their improper friendly relationship is pretty straight - forward and predictable , too much so for the actors involved to make it either touching and/or funny . The same goes for Kathryn Hahn ( We ’re the Millers ) , who makes her newsman character Jenny Widgeon charmingly pushy and psychoneurotic - despite her often being the tush of over - used gag and other flavorless amusing payoff .
As for the rest of theBad Wordscast , Allison Janney ( The Way Way Back ) is wasted as the stern and reject functionary who runs the Golden Quill spelling bee . Her endeavor to foil Guy ’s travail is as by - the - numbers as most of the reactions by upset parent in answer to Guy ’s " horrific " antics . Other recognisable faces that show up - but have lilliputian in the means of interesting thing to do - include Ben Falcone ( a.k.a . Melissa McCarthy ’s hubby ) as an announcer at the spelling patronage and Philip Baker Hall ( Magnolia ) as the father of the Golden Quill case , Dr. Bowman .
Jason Bateman directs himself in ‘Bad Words’
In the end , Bad Wordsplays out as a farce that ( lamentably ) just is n’t all that insightful , witty , or creative with how it approaches its assumption - one that is innately kind of funny , but only give-up the ghost so far . There are laughs to be had here , and motion-picture fan who are die - heavy fans of Jason Bateman ’s comedy style might notice that his performance is enough to make the flick deserving checking out - and hence , may incur it slightly more pleasurable . For others , though , this film mostly play out as a failed endeavor to emulate theBad Santaformula .
In case you ’re still undecided , here is the lagger forBad Words :
Jason Bateman as Guy in ‘Bad Words’
Bad Wordsis now playing in theaters nation - wide . It is 88 minutes long and Rated radius for crude and sexual content , language and abbreviated nudeness .
Bad parole is a 2013 clowning star and directed by Jason Bateman . Bateman stars as Guy Trilby , a 40 - year - one-time who enters into a midway school spelling bee after he obtain a loophole to join the rival . Kathryn Hahn , Allison Janney , Rohan Chand , and Philip Baker Hall are also in the cinema .
Allison Janney and Jason Bateman in ‘Bad Words’
