“Bad Words” Slaps Hard With Hilarious, Perverse Charm

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erM_EksoVPc&w]

Bad Words (2014)

Release Date: March 28, 2014
Cast: Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn, Allison Janney, Rohan Chand
Director: Jason Bateman
Studio: Aggregate Films, Darko Entertainment
Distributor: Focus Features
Genre(s): Comedy

Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Spoilers: Low
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You can’t get more innocence out of spelling bee with ambitious children vying for a spot at nationals. You also can’t get anymore corrupt, cynical, perverted, and foul-mouthed than the 40-year old contestant Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman). Wait…an adult in a spelling bee? That’s right, because Guy found a loophole that if you didn’t pass the 8th grade you can enter into the spelling bee. The parents hate him and the kids don’t like it either. Guy couldn’t give two shits about either of them. Right off the bat, he’s a jerk. A Class A asshole. He insults the parents and children with fantastic verbiage, without missing a beat. It’s like a well-plumbed line because the crap just flows out of his mouth. That’s actually pretty gross imagery…anyway, Guy wins the local spelling bee and advances to Nationals. He’s being sponsored by an online newspaper who’s reporter, Jenny Widgeon (Kathryn Hahn), can’t get more than a few trite answers about Guy’s life and exactly why he’s so set on being in the spelling bee.

Guy is off to the national spelling bee and he is ruthless in his insults and pranks to get kids out of the competition. He traumatizes a poor girl with his antics in which she leaves abruptly, and taunts another boy saying he slept with his mom. There’s no end to the nastiness of Guy Trilby…he has no moral compass. Because it obviously points straight down to Hell. No matter if he were the devil himself, Guy Trilby has a genius IQ as he spells every word correctly. Honestly, I think he memorized the entire dictionary. He’s still an ass though.

The best part about this movie is the quirky, corrupted relationship between Guy and another contestent, Chaitanya Chopra (Rohan Chand). Chaitanya is a 10 year old who is probably a genius too but is so happy go lucky you just want to hug him. Guy obviously insults him calling him “slumdog” in regards to his ethnic background. Chaitanya’s dad’s a dick because he keeps leaving his son alone apparently because that makes him a man. Guy sees this and they start a…friendship? I’ll just say when they are together, they steal the show. They have the most hilarious scenes in the entire movie. Their nighttime excursions are so downright wrong, it feels sickeningly right.

Eventually, you find out why Guy is doing this. Why he is the way he is. There’s always a reason and you sort of feel sorry for the guy. It adds depth to the movie and you find yourself surprised you have the feels for this jerk.

Finals Thoughts: Without a doubt this movie pushes the R-rating to the extreme end. There are so many insults, racial comments, sexual pranks, and inappropriate behavior to make the entire Catholic Church blush bright crimson. The story flows and never loses momentum. It keeps slinging and slinging all the way to the end. You’ll find yourself laughing and feel bad laughing but you don’t care. Why? It’s so hilarious all your ethics go out the window. Yes…you’ll feel uncomfortable sometimes because the envelope gets pushed so far, but even then you’ll still chuckle. Jason Bateman’s directorial debut is a success! So go see it right now!