"...they're just words." So says a character in the twisted comedy, BAD WORDS, starring and directed by Jason Bateman. Remember insult comedian Don Rickles? He used to make me laugh so hard that my sides ached. Would Rickles have a career today now that we slipped into an era of "cancel culture" and people being "woke"? Even non-comedians like author Mark Twain would probably be forced to change copy in a manuscript so readers could refer to "Huckleberry Finn and Person of Color Jim." Guy Trilby, the character Jason Bateman plays in BAD WORDS goes Don Rickles on people big and small in the first ten minutes of the movie in a way that is politically incorrect, if you will, but really funny. You have to stay with it and you have to remember "...they're just words." The power of words is significant in this smart, brisk comedy which marked Bateman's directorial debut.
Back in 2013, I was working on a half-hour film review/interview show that aired on some Discovery channels, I believe. It was very good that, unfortunately, got no attention from TV columnists despite the fact that is was a groundbreaking show. The host/critic of the show and I saw BAD WORDS at a screening back in 2013 and we gave it a good review. But the film underperformed at the box office and folks missed a pretty good movie. It's now on Netflix. I revisited it last weekend. I liked it even more than when I saw it at the New York City screening.
Guy is 40 years old, unmarried and he lives alone. He works as a proofreader. He's no college grad but he's smart as a whip and admits that he often angers folks with his childlike behavior. He tells us that his feelings were hurt and that explains his often insulting behavior.
We meet him in Columbus, Ohio at a regional spelling bee. He's one of the contestants. How did that happen? He found a loophole in the rules of entry and he's obsessed with being in the spelling bee with all the over-achiever kids. Helping him with this is a newspaper reporter who wants to get at why he's so angry at the world and why he's taking it out legitimately on a spelling bee.
Guy advances to the national competition which will be broadcast on National Public Television. One of the judges is a pompous professor of linguistics who dislikes Guy but honors the rules of entry.
One of the other contestants is an overly chatty and chipper 10-year old that introduces himself to Guy. No matter how verbally insulting Guy is, not matter how many bad words he uses, the kid sticks around and tells his opponent that "Not everything is about winning." The kid is staying alone in a budget hotel room because his dad feels that will help him build character. Dad is in a nearby deluxe hotel.
Guy never knew his dad and his mother was an unhappy, irresponsible parent. He and little Chopra become an unlikely pair of buddies who will be opponents in the live TV telecast.
The power of words, how we use them, why we use them and the attention we pay to them. That, to me, is the heart and soul of this often rude and very surprising comedy It runs 90 minutes. If you get Netflix -- and don't mind some really raw adult language plus a few seconds of nudity -- give it chance. It stars Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn, Allison Janney and Philip Baker Hall.
No comments:
Post a Comment