Pretty Good

Awesome Movie

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Short and Simple Review by WubsTheFadgerJason Bateman delivers a knockout performance as a cynical, selfish, and most of all brutally rude and hilarious man named Guy Trilby. Kathryn Hahn also does a great job at portraying a distraught woman looking for answers. Rohan Chand plays the part of a child in need of a friend and he plays this part so well.The story at first may seem a little bit stupid, but the no-holds-back humor starts off quick and without conviction. Most if not all of the jokes and gags are perfectly timed and extremely funny. The runtime is a little long even at an hour and a half and the heartfelt moments seem a little scripted and predictable.Pros: Great performances by Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn , and Rohan Chand, funny and hilarious story, and well timed jokesCons: A little overlong runtime and some predictable heartfelt momentsOverall Rating: 8.4

Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman)is a 40 year old man who never actually graduated 8th grade at school and uses this as a loophole to compete in the National Spelling Bee championships. Despite objections from many of the parents and the director of The National Spelling Bee championships Trilby remains unfazed and continues in his bid to win this tournament. Although seemingly keen to win the tournament, Trilby does have an ulterior motive which explains away his true reason for entering the tournament.When I looked at the plot line for this film I was unsure about it and wondered how much humour could be derived from a man entering a spelling competition with a bunch of kids??? To me the premise had all the trappings of a 'juvenile' comedy, but thankfully it was much funnier than I expected it to be.OK first things first; this film does have some 'low-brow' humour and yes it is a bit juvenile at times, but it did make me laugh a lot. I've always said that I don't mind 'low-brow' and 'juvenile' humour as long as it makes me laugh and it did here and that's clearly a big plus for this film.Bateman is the key here and he plays the role of 'man hating the whole world and the whole world owing man a favour' very well. The best scenes in the film are those which Bateman shares with his young co-star Rohan Chand. Chand had the difficult task of playing a nerdy overly talkative kid who could so easily have become annoying, but he's actually every bit as good as Bateman and as I've mentioned they are a joy to watch together - their opening scene on the plane together was brilliant as were all the scenes where Bateman was trying to get him to man up. True these are the sorts of things we've seen before, but as long as I'm laughing I really don't care if some of what I see isn't particularly original.Bateman plays an obnoxious character here and again this could have been something that could have grated on me whilst watching the film. However, again, he is a very funny character meaning that his obnoxious nature was something that I was often prepared to overlook. Working from Andrew Dodge's script Bateman is also given some good material to work from (as indeed are many of his co-stars).Whilst the picture is mostly funny and whilst it also has a mostly original plot line, the film does start to come apart slightly in the final third; Dodge's script starts to become a bit heavy-handed and a tad repetitive. Bateman also loses a little bit of control towards the end with what can only be described as some cheap-jack Jerry Springer type antics going on at the end - clearly it all exists to make a point, but it all felt a bit forceful to me. The twist at the end explaining away Bateman's desire to compete in the Spelling Bee was also a bit lame which was a bit of a shame given that the picture had a fairly original plot line.Yes there are some flaws here but when looking at the film in its entirety there is definitely more good than bad. Despite losing its way slightly towards the end, the fine performances, humour, and mostly original plot line make it an interesting and very enjoyable picture.

Let's get something straight right away. This movie appears to be cashing in on its so-called edginess and dark offensive humor. The humor is none of those things because the movie is too boring to be offensive. Also, if people honestly think the stuff he says is somehow going past the line of today's comedy, I want to know what world they're living in. In the real world, this sort of dialogue is now considered standard fare, thanks to years and years of massaging audiences with doses of offensive humor by everyone from stand up comedians, to Howard Stern to the typical toilet humor found in nine out of ten teen comedies. Like the frog boiling slowly in water, we didn't notice how far it had gotten until now it's too late, our culture is over, stick a fork in it.Still, just because the vast majority of people who use crude humor do so because they are talentless hacks (see Howard Stern), there is still a legitimate place for it in the hands of the right person/people. However, this movie has way more problems than questionable humor, like some sort of point. The plot is a guy as an adult enters a prestigious spelling bee to get back at his father. In between, he meets annoying-and I do mean ANNOYING-kids, especially the Indian kid, with whom he forms an unlikely bond. That's it. That's the plot. It's just as entertaining as it sounds. If you've always wanted to see Jason Bateman sleepwalking through supposedly offensive dialogue with dozens of irritating little kids sprinkled throughout, your prayers have been answered.Bateman has a limited acting range, and working with a bad script is a kiss of death because he can't make a good performance save a bad movie. He was good in 'Extract' because that part was practically written for him. Kathryn Hahn is in this, so I won't give it one star for that reason alone.

Debuting feature director Jason Bateman stars here as Guy Trilby, a 40 year old former proofreader for product guarantees. One day he gets the bright idea to enroll in a national Spelling Bee. He's found a loophole which he can exploit, so he's off and running, competing against kids a quarter of his age. These include the annoying but endearing Chaitanya Chopra (Rohan Chand), a boy with a demanding, somewhat distant father. Despite being a wise ass and a potty mouth (as well as a man on a mission), Guy finds himself befriending the boy."Bad Words" is a gem for this viewer. On the surface, it would seem to be a standard tale of an ageing loser, with much of the raunchiness and vulgarity expected from that sort of thing. Well, the movie doesn't disappoint in that regard, but it also turns out to have a fair bit of heart, without going overboard on sentiment. Guy is an enigma for a long time, confounding the reporter (the sexy Kathryn Hahn) with whom he frequently ends up having sex. (During which she apparently doesn't like being looked at.) And the friendship that develops between the smart alecky adult and the earnest kid was written in an entertaining and convincing way. Not surprisingly, Guy introduces Chaitanya to such grown up delights as ogling breasts, as well as teaching him the joys of practical jokes.The language is often colourful enough to generate some laughs, although "Bad Words" never does wallow in complete raunchiness or unpleasantness. The words chosen for the spelling bee are pretty damn amusing at times.Bateman does a creditable job as director, as well as delivering an engaging performance. Hahn, Allison Janney, Philip Baker Hall, Ben Falcone, Steve Witting, Beth Grant, Anjul Nigam, and Bob Stephenson are among a rock solid supporting cast. Young Chand is very likable.Overall, a smart, funny tale recommended to comedy lovers tired of the predilection towards political correctness in current times.Eight out of 10.