Synopsis
Forty-year-old misanthrope, Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman), enters the National Golden Quill Spelling Bee through a loophole in the rules.
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Cast
- Jason BatemanGuy Trilby
- Kathryn HahnJenny Widgeon
- Rohan ChandChaitanya Chopra
- Philip Baker HallDr. Bowman
- Allison JanneyDr. Bernice Deagan
- Ben FalconePete Fowler
- Steve WittingProctor at Spelling Bee
- Beth GrantBedazzled Judge
- Gwen PardenBrace Faced Girl
- Anjul NigamSriram Chopra
Recommendations
- 91
Entertainment Weekly
Bateman deserves props for sustaining Bad Words as a little balancing act between sulfurously funny hatred and humanity. - 80
Variety
This exuberantly foul-mouthed and mean-spirited comedy goes somewhat soft in the final stretch but remains an often uproarious model of sharp scripting and spirited acting. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
Choosing it for his debut as director, Bateman demonstrates the same knack for timing and fine shadings of attitude as he does onscreen. - 75
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
The film is full of sharp observations about academic contests today, with Tiger Moms and tough-love Dads browbeating the kids from the wings. The ending is kind of a tap-out, but Bateman keeps this clipping along, maintaining the mean streak and potty mouth that makes Bad Words the dirtiest and funniest comedy of the new year. - 68
Film.com
While Bad Words is a little too dopey to take seriously, this is compensated for with a handful of truly amusing sequences. - 67
IndieWire
It's less of a showcase for Bateman's ability to direct comedic storytelling than simply to make people laugh, which makes Bad Words a sufficiently vulgar playground. - 60
Time Out
Bad Words soars in the bits of riotously offensive chitchat between Guy and a young Indian hopeful (Rohan Chand); it wobbles in plot developments involving the effortlessly starchy Allison Janney as the contest’s “queen bee”; and it splats in the I’m-secretly-hurting conclusion. - 38
Slant Magazine
The meager comeuppance and hasty notes of sweetness that end the film feel pre-approved rather than organically realized.
