For his directorial debut, Jason Bateman has gone R-rated with the comedy “Bad Words.” It’s the actor like you’ve never seen him before, taking his Michael Bluth persona to a very dark, dark place as he curses and spews insults all while trying to crush the dreams of a bunch of little kids. So just how raw does he get?
Two clips have dropped for the forthcoming film and as you might have surmised from the headline, the subject matter isn’t exactly your standard conversation material. The story finds Bateman playing Guy Trilby who uses a loophole to register and compete in the National Quill Spelling Bee competition against a bunch of eighth graders. But is he just an asshole or is there another reason he’s doing this? That’s what a plucky reporter (Kathryn Hahn) is hoping to find out, all while Guy strikes up an unlikely bond 10-year old Chaitanya (Rohan Chand). The ambition is admirable but the results don’t quite work, but as always, judge for yourself.
“Bad Words” opens on March 14th. Clips and pics below.
Travis, I feel you tried to hard to make your comment really long and drawn out. I enjoyed the film and thought Jason Bateman showed an unseen side of himself, being a bad boy and not just another suckup (arrested development and identity theft). Travis, I think maybe you're the suckup and should reacquaint yourself with the Jason Bateman library of films. Also, I would recommend rewatching all the silver spoons episodes (but I doubt you've seen them so maybe just watching in them the first place). Good luck with your bad santa review (more like Child's play!).
I so wanted to enjoy this movie but found it tried too hard to be Bad Santa, while reaching too far in making the lead character seem like a good guy.