The premise of “Bad Words” is simple enough. A foul-mouthed and angry 40-year-old man-child Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman, “Arrested Development”), for some unknown reason, has found a loophole that allows him to compete in elementary-school aged spelling bees, much to the disapproval of his young competitors and their parents.
With him he brings reporter Jenny Widgeon (Kathryn Hahn, “Parks and Recreation”), so desperate to find out Trilby’s motivation that she acts as his partner in non-crime. On his way to compete in the National Spelling Bee, Trilby meets his main competition— over-optimistic, enthusiastic 10-year-old Chaitanya Chopra (Rohan Chand, “Homeland”), who eventually wears down Bateman’s character with his desire for genuine friendship.
In some movies, very adult characters juxtaposed with the innocence of a child makes for plenty of opportunities for laughs (see “Little Miss Sunshine”), but Trilby’s begrudging corruption of Chopra doesn’t seem genuine.
In fact, the premise is almost too simple, to the point that the film begins to rely on cheap dialogue that doesn’t just border on offensive— it is downright offensive (Trilby refers to Chopra as “curry face”, etc.). Most of the jokes are so diluted with profanities that they lose their punch lines along the way.
Sometimes crude humor works, just look at “Superbad” or “Step Brothers.” The difference between these movies lie in their intentions— “Bad Words” is mean in spirit and words, trying to patch this with the friendship between Trilby and Chopra, but to no avail.
The problem with this film is not the lead’s acting. Bateman delivers all of his lines with a punch of anger and snarkiness (as is appropriate for his character). Hahn serves as a quality foil, being both moral and flawed by reason of her personal investment in Trilby’s story.
Chand, though admittedly adorable, gave off the impression of a young kid acting in his school’s Thanksgiving play, a little too obvious that the words he is saying are not his own but nonetheless smile-inducing. There are couple of cute cameos from Ben Falcone (“Bridesmaids”) and Allison Janney (“The West Wing”).
The problem with this film is not in Bateman’s directorial debut. Stylistically, “Bad Words” is actually relatively complex. It uses muted Wes Anderson-like palette full of browns and greens and an appropriately angry classic rock combined with classic hip-hop soundtrack.
The problem with this film is that it is poorly written, as it opts for cheap laughs and juxtaposition-based jokes and a sympathetic yet deeply unlikeable protagonist, instead of story and character substance.
