It’s guaranteed that some people will be offended by Bad Words, Jason Bateman’s feature directorial debut. As the title suggests, the film’s peppered with plenty of blue language—hurled at both children and adults—as it mines territory similar to Terry Zwigoff’s Bad Santa. Both comedies feature misanthropes in lead roles, with Billy Bob Thornton playing Zwigoff’s titular character, and Bateman stepping in front of the camera for double-duty on this project.
On both fronts, Bateman does an admirable job. As Guy Trilby, Bateman’s a 40-year-old on a mission: taking top prize at The Golden Quill national spelling bee (which oddly takes place in L.A. and not in Washington, D.C.). Trilby is ready to vanquish any pre-pubescent challenger that gets in his way. Despite the anger of parents and judges on the local, state and national levels, Trilby is legally eligible to compete. There’s a loophole in the contest that states competitors must not have completed eighth grade; and though he’s clearly a bookish guy, Trilby never finished school.
Tagging along on Trilby’s wild ride is reporter Jenny Widgeon (Kathryn Hahn, We’re the Millers), who’s working on a profile of Guy, trying to uncover his motivations. While it’s unethical for news organizations to pay for stories (and sleep with their subjects, too), the plot device works well here as Widgeon serves as the audience’s sounding board.
It’s clear from the outset that Guy’s not out to make any friends, though 10-year-old competitor Chaitanya (Rohan Chand of Homeland) tries. This (nearly) fit-for-print first exchange on the plane to the tournament demarcates the characters: “What was your winning word?” Chaitanya asks. “It was autofellatio,” Guy answers. “I’ve never heard of that word.” The exchange turns even more politically incorrect quickly with Guy telling the boy, “If you don’t point that curry hole that way … and sit your f-cking ass down on that seat, I’m going to tell the captain your bag’s ticking.”
As in Bad Santa, the relationship between the man and child becomes a central part of the story. Whereas Billy Bob Thornton’s character is a conman, alcoholic and ne’er-do-well, we learn that Bateman’s character is highly motivated to win the bee for personal reasons. Without giving too much away, Guy’s on a quest to right wrongs from his past, and conquers words like “slubberdegullion” as a method for exacting revenge. There’s a depth and inner-conflict at play here that sets itself apart from the raunchy Bad Santa.
Don’t get us wrong, Guy’s moral compass has been turned off, which we see explicitly when he and Chaitanya play hooky from studying and run amok in L.A. We laughed with horror at an uncomfortable sequence that that involved Guy paying a prostitute to show the boy her boobs, followed by a prank that involved a lobster and a penis.