REVIEW: Bad Words

7/10 - It's good to be funny. 

Perhaps this is just my perception at the end of award season, but the movie industry has swung so far in the direction of big movies. Comedies have to be the funniest movie ever made. Action movies have to be about the end of the world. Drama's have to be the most dramatic movie ever. It's become a contest for extremes, which can be okay, but leaves little room for small budget movies.

Bad Words is one of those movies that doesn't fit into the extremes. It's a lower budget film, that's just funny. It's not the funniest movie ever, it's not the craziest or most original. It's enough to just be funny. Personally I think that makes it worth seeing, because most comedies can't even get that right.

This film is Jason Bateman's directorial debut with this comedy about a foul mouthed 40 year old trying to win the nation's eighth grade spelling bee. Being a fresh new director who has acted in plenty of uninspired films, Bateman really sets his flag post with Bad Words making sure every shot it is a little bit different than normal. With lens flares, moving cameras, and coloration this movie had a distinct texture that developed the mood and excitement. I was happy to see the direction add to the film and the comedy. It goes a little bit overboard at times, but I would rather see experimental direction, than not enough.

In the film, Bateman's character Guy is that too smart for his own good character. He's far more manipulative than mean. Guy is the anti-hero who battles the adversity he created himself. It's somewhat of a fantasy fighting against the establishment, or authority. It's like when you re-enact an argument in the shower, and you think of how amazing it would be to tell people how you really think, well this movie is that reality. He's picking a fight with people, who didn't even know he was angry with them. As a premise this would verge on irritatingly dumb if the jokes didn't land.

I suspect for an "adult" comedy due to language alone, this is going to disappoint a few. This is not a movie that should compete for vulgarity against other recent R-rated comedies. For others it will be predictable. This is the perfect example of a movie that will get critically panned for reasons that I cannot deny, and yet it still was an enjoyable movie for me.

I was thrilled with the array of characters, Kathryn Hahn finally being recognized in a diversity of roles. Allison Janney is spot on as the spelling bee administrator. My only real complaint about this movie is that I wished these minor characters had more rounded out storylines. None of the minor plots seem to come to a resolution, only the main plot does. I do, however, wonder if they need to. I wanted to see more Allison Janney because I love her as an actor, and I wanted to see her have one final scene in the movie, but that doesn't necessarily mean the story called for it. I also wanted the hilarious Ben Falcone to have a funnier role, since he is a talented comedian, but again that didn't detract from story. Perhaps it's not the movie industry who demands more and better, maybe it's me too.

IMDb - Bad Words (7.1)
Wikipedia - Bad Words
Rotten Tomatoes - Bad Words (64%)
Amazon.ca - Bad Words