"Bad Words" Review | Movie Monday

"Bad Words" Theatrical Release Poster

Bad Words tells the story of Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman, who also directed the film), a 40-year-old man who finds a loophole in the Spelling Bee rules and decides to enter, much to the chagrin of the child contestants, their parents, and the event organizers. Guy has a reporter named Jenny (Kathryn Hahn) report on his progress in the competition, and along the way he reluctantly befriends one of the contestants, Chai (Rohan Chand).

This film is full of dark humour - the kind that makes you chuckle and simultaneously wonder, "Oh my god, did (s)he really just say that?" Jason Bateman's Guy is a miserable person and when he reveals his reason for entering the Spelling Bee, it just makes you, as an observer, feel bad for him because he was so affected that he went and ruined an otherwise entertaining competition for a bunch of kids.

Guy's relationship with Chai is really funny and endearing as we see it develop; Guy begins by not wanting anything to do with the child, but Chai is just so sweet and persistent, despite Guy being an absolute jerk to him.

I really enjoyed this movie; it's definitely not a happy, feel-good film, but the dark humour did make me laugh often, and I think the story-line is an interesting concept.

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