Bad Words (2013)

Directed by Jason Bateman. Starring Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn, Rohan Chand, Philip Baker Hall, Allison Janney, Steve Witting, Rachael Harris, Anjul Nigam. [R]

Working off a script by Andrew Dodge, Bateman makes his directorial debut with this wicked comedy where he also stars as a misanthropic forty-year-old who has discovered a loophole that allows him to compete in a national spelling bee competition against pre-teen kids, which he does with dry, acidic aplomb. He makes friends with blithe youngster Chand (after his initial sharp-tongued dismissals go ignored), and is secretive about his reasoning for doing all this, even to the reporter (Hahn) who is sponsoring him in exchange for the story…and a little hanky-panky, just don’t look at her while doing it! At its best when the thorns are exposed; late maneuvers to soften Bateman’s character and inject a little heart (even pathos) come close to spoiling the already wondrously rotten egg, but it’s briskly paced and delivers plenty of sharp jabs to tickle the antisocial funny bone. Of course, a motivation eventually is provided, but frankly, the movie would have been funnier if it boiled down to: he wants to win a $50,000 prize while humiliating children. Anyone who can actually spell “floccinaucinihilipilification” alongside the lead actor can smugly rest assured that he needed to read it off of cue cards in order to shoot the scene.

73/100