The new Blu-ray title Bad Words carries one of the year’s most subversive pro-family messages.
To grasp it, viewers must wade through the blackest comedy moments since Bad Santa snuck down our chimney. Plus, revealing more about the family agenda would spoil the movie, and viewers should approach this slippery story with as few spoilers as possible.
Jason Bateman stars and directs this tale of a grown man competing in a national spelling bee meant for children. Guy Trilby found a legal loophole to enter the contest, and the whipsmart 40 year old intends to use it.
Why? It’s the million dollar question hanging over every frame of the film.
Guy doesn’t care who he hurts, or insults, along the way. And his impressive vocabulary means he can punish anyone within earshot. That comes in handy since nearly every adult wants to rip his lungs out. It’s a shot at hard-driving parents that never overstays its welcome.
Guy is a jerk, of course, but it’s hard to bring a full simmer of hate against him. Bateman’s charisma registers even when dialed down to near zero. That makes Guy such a perfect persona for him to wear after years in the Arrested Development trenches. It certainly helps that the movie surrounds Guy with equally flawed characters.
The presence of a reporter (Kathryn Hahn) trying to capture Guy’s story works better as plot device than dramatic arc. And Allison Jenney’s work as the spelling bee’s imperial head also feels like a missed creative opportunity.
Bad Words is blisteringly funny all the same, particularly when Guy opens up to a fellow spelling bee contestant living a sheltered life.
Come for the coal black comedy, but stay for a reminder of the value of the nuclear family.