Bad Words

The end justifies the mean.

6.4
20131h 29m

Forty-year-old misanthrope, Guy Trilby, enters the National Golden Quill Spelling Bee through a loophole in the rules.

Production

Logo for Aggregate Films
Logo for MXN Entertainment
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Trailers & Videos

Thumbnail for video: Trailer

Trailer

Thumbnail for video: Official Trailer

Official Trailer

Thumbnail for video: Official Red Band Trailer

Official Red Band Trailer

Thumbnail for video: "The Idiot High-jacker" - Extended Preview

"The Idiot High-jacker" - Extended Preview

Thumbnail for video: Quaker Clip

Quaker Clip

Cast

Photo of Jason Bateman

Jason Bateman

Guy Trilby

Photo of Kathryn Hahn

Kathryn Hahn

Jenny Widgeon

Photo of Rohan Chand

Rohan Chand

Chaitanya Chopra

Photo of Allison Janney

Allison Janney

Dr. Bernice Deagan

Photo of Ben Falcone

Ben Falcone

Pete Fowler

Photo of Steve Witting

Steve Witting

Proctor at Spelling Bee

Photo of Beth Grant

Beth Grant

Bedazzled Judge

Photo of Anjul Nigam

Anjul Nigam

Sriram Chopra

Photo of Allan Miller

Allan Miller

Bald Glasses Judge

Photo of Bob Stephenson

Bob Stephenson

Bill Murhoff

Photo of Matthew Zhang

Matthew Zhang

Braden Aftergood

Photo of Madison Hu

Madison Hu

Ling Quan

Photo of Michael Patrick McGill

Michael Patrick McGill

Beet Red Father

Photo of Judith Hoag

Judith Hoag

Petal Dubois

Photo of Rachael Harris

Rachael Harris

Eric Tai's Mother

Photo of Greg Cromer

Greg Cromer

Jeremy 'FBI Agent'

Photo of Ethan Dizon

Ethan Dizon

Ricky Irvine

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Reviews

R

Reno

6/10

> Good lie, bad words and ugly truth.

I thought it was Cliff Curtis' movie because that's whom I saw in one of the posters. Anyway, it's Jason Bateman's movie, which is also his first directional venture. A refreshing theme because only a very few movies were made based on the spelling bee contest, but this one was a bit messed up story narration. Most of the narrative looked so pale and dull. It is supposed to be an exciting storytelling with blistering pace.

You know, stories in the movies happen with a backdrop of the reasons. Like a piece of uninteresting wood carved into a something that attracts everybody. Some movie holds it till the end to reveal that beauty in the form of a twist, but some won't mind explaining it along the way. In this movie, what they had for the twist was lifeless, boring one, more like a cliché from the older days flick.

The boy from the movie 'Jack and Jill' was decent. I felt some material in the movie was inappropriate regarding a minor in one of the lead roles. But I know the title clearly suggests it is only for adults. Understandable that the writer wanted to give something new, but he could not get it right. Maybe lacked to bring some interesting and inspiring elements. What surprised me was, it was not either for commercial benefit nor a fine art piece.

All the way I knew something was not clinching and finally found out the approach to portray the main character in the negative mode had to do with something. They wanted the viewers to go against him and well, they got it in a way. Interestingly the screenplay was from the 'Black List' which was untouched for almost 10 years. Unfortunately Bateman decided to give it a try and the result is,... Here I'm with not satisfied fully, but okay-okay movie for being at least something different.

6/10

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