“Bad Words”
Directed by Jason Bateman
Focus Features
3.5 / 5.0 paws
In his latest film endeavor, Jason Bateman makes a rather striking departure from the charming, straight-man role audiences are used to seeing him play. Instead, he trades that image for the bitter, foul-mouthed individual he plays in his directorial debut, “Bad Words.”
Bateman plays Guy Trilby, a 40-year-old who finds a loophole in the rules of the Golden Quill National Spelling Bee, making him eligible for the competition. In spite of efforts by outraged parents and overly ambitious eighth graders seeking to disqualify him, Trilby is intent on winning.
Though he attempts to distance himself from the competition, Trilby unexpectedly finds himself forming an unlikely friendship with 10-year-old Chaitanya Chopra (Rohan Chand) in the process. He is aided in the competition by reporter Jenny Widgeon (Kathryn Hahn), who is on a constant pursuit to get to the bottom of why Trilby has pursued such an odd venture.
A continuous tension that runs throughout the film is manifested in Trilby’s inability to connect with other individuals. While his participation in the spelling bee speaks to that emotional incapacity in itself, his avoidance to discuss why he really wants to win the competition serves to further highlight that theme.
Trilby succeeds in being the most distasteful character of the film’s first act with his crude humor and uncompromising behavior. However, it is through the development of his relationship with Chaitanya that he at last becomes humanized.
Despite the unconventional partnership they have in the film, their onscreen chemistry serves to highlight both Bateman and Chand’s acting abilities. Bateman can maintain impeccable composure in light of Chand’s quirky persona. Though he is known for being on the more charming end of the spectrum, he has successfully broken away from that convention through this performance.
Because the film is saturated with vulgarity and pessimism, both Bateman and writer Andrew Dodge are perceptive in developing this relationship as it aids in making Trilby someone the audience can actually relate to. It is during a venturous night between he and Chaitanya, filled with mischief and heavy carbohydrate intake, that we see the most considerable character development for Chaitanya as well. He moves beyond his obedient comportment to a more easygoing one as the film progresses.
While the relationship between the two is an integral part of the story, it is also where some of the film’s weakest moments take place. The most considerable of them occurs in a callous romp that Trilby orchestrates between a prostitute and the young Chaitanya, resulting in an out of place and disturbing scene. Crude humor is an integral part of the film, however there are bits where the film takes vulgarity much too far.
Despite its raunchiness, Bateman effectively conveys the story of a man seeking to gain closure with the wrongs that have been done to him in the past, while simultaneously acquiring a new perspective for the future. Filled with a distinctive medley of crude humor and heart-felt emotion, he delivers a tale that is, in the end, unexpectedly relatable.
– Shelly Maldonado