Back Beat – ‘Bad Words’, good fun

In the opening scene of “Bad Words” Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman) takes his seat next to a heavyset child. The child stares at the interloper with dull, listless eyes, struggling to comprehend the scene before him. “What are you doing up on the stage weirdo?” The child manages finally.
A fair question seeing as Trilby is the only 40 year-old competing in a spelling bee for eighth graders.
Without missing a beat Trilby deadpans a reply, “Your chair called me for help. It was like ‘help me…it’s so heavy’”.
This scene sets the tone for the rest of the film. Most of the big laughs in the movie come from this type of humor.
“Mean stuff and dark stuff makes me laugh,” Bateman said in a making-of featurette. “As long as it’s delivered in a way that is redeemable, or comes from ignorance as opposed to hatred.”
This is what makes Bateman a perfect fit in the role of Trilby. In less delicate hands Trilby might have come across as a psychopath rather than the misanthrope he is. A man at odds with the world and himself, hiding behind a penchant for words, both bad and otherwise.
Plus it’s fun to see Bateman playing against type. His character here has more in common with his post-switch performance in “The Change-Up” than the straight man persona he perfected on “Arrested Development.”
Trilby is accompanied on his travels by reporter Jenny (Kathryn Hahn). She has agreed to sponsor him in exchange for his story. But in three weeks he has only supplied her with three answers: Wild Turkey, olive green and 32A…his favorite drink, color and breast size respectively.
Trilby quickly makes it to the final leg of the competition, The Golden Quill National Spelling Bee. On the plane ride there Trilby is accosted by enthusiastic fellow contestant, Choitanya Chopra (Rohan Chand). The young boy is eager to make friends with the reluctant Trilby.
Upon arriving at the Golden Quill, Trilby immediately butts heads with the stern Beatrice Deagan (Allison Janney). The director of the spelling bee for 20 years, and a former winner herself, Deagan has no patience for what she sees as Trilby’s “slimy gimmicks”.
In 2011 the first time script from writer Andrew Dodge landed on the Black List. The Black List is a list of the most popular scripts in Hollywood still seeking distribution.
“It’s not just screenwriters breaking in,” Dodge told Esquire. “The year I was on Tarantino was also on for Django Unchained.”
Dodge’s manager informed him that Bateman wanted to make the film his directorial debut as Dodge was dropping his children off at school.
“I was so jazzed I almost took out a couple of kids,” Dodge joked.
“I really really wanted to have the opportunity to direct,” Bateman said, “because it’s just a position that allows me to use everything that I have learned over ‘x’ number of years.”
Though some of the story structure feels a tad recycled, there are more than enough laugh out loud moments and genuine surprises to make this movie worth watching and the breadth of jokes allows it to hold up to subsequent viewings. “Bad Words” is currently available on DVD and Blu-ray. Do yourself a favor and pick it up.