It was only three months ago that Hollywood gave us a comedic spin on over-the-hill heroes striving to recapture the glory days of their youth. Boxing movie icons Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro pulled out the gloves and trunks from the back of the closet and jumped back in the ring for a GRUDGE MATCH. Too bad the referees (or studio execs) didn’t throw in the towel and put a stop to the dismal bout. Well here’s another fella’ going for a second chance at a prize usually taken by those several decades younger. But this guy is not a boxer or a ball player like Roy Hobbs, THE NATURAL. It’s not an athletic event at all. And our hero is still many years from his AARP card. Forty-something Guy Trilby is determined to finally get the big prize at the Golden Quill National Spelling Bee by defeating all the 14 year-olds standing in his way. Happily for us, the abrasive, arrogant subject is played by a comic icon: Jason Bateman, the isle of sanity inside the crazy Bluth clan of TV’s “Arrested Development” and the co-star or supporting player of several recent screen farces like HORRIBLE BOSSES and IDENTITY THIEF. But he’s not playing straight man to Melissa McCarthy this time. He’s front and center. Oh, and he’s also making his feature film directing debut. So, do we have another multiple threat comic star like Ben Stiller in the making?
Guy Trilby (Bateman) has found a loophole in the rules for the big $50,000 spelling bee. And so, because he didn’t complete eight grade, he’s allowed to compete, angering school officials and parents everywhere. He escapes the angry mobs, trophy in hand, thanks to Jenny Widgeon (Kathryn Hahn), a reporter for the news website “Click and Scroll”, Guy’s sponsor in the different contests. But try as she might, even using her womanly wiles, Jenny can’t get Guy to open up and explain why he’s doing this. On the flight to the big televised national finals, Guy meets one of his competitors, wide-eyed nerdy innocent Chaitanya (Rohan Chand). After trying to push the boy away, Guy and the lad soon begin to bond at the dingy host motel to the tourney. Is the normally ruthless Trilby actually developing a heart, or is this a part of his sinister plan for victory? Just what is it with this guy named Guy?
This is the performance that Bateman has given us hints of in many of his previous film and TV roles. But this is no put-upon straight man tossing out put-downs almost under his breath. Trilby is a single-minded man using his passive aggressive insults which often spew out of his mouth like a verbal gattling gun to take down anyone who gets in the way of his goal. With his brow furled, he strides on, occasionally slowing to toss a devastating grenade of surly sarcasm. It’s a testament to Bateman’s skills that we’re often rooting for one of the movies’ most unpleasant protagonists. Keeping up with him is always delightful Hahn as the inquisitor somehow both drawn-to and repulsed by Guy. But she always has that reporter’s determination to dig up the truth, the motive behind the monster. The light fighting Guy’s darkness is Chand as the cherubic, sweet Chaitanya. He’s a delightful comic counterpart, but is often difficult to accept as an equally ruthless challenger in the film’s last act. There’s wonderful comic support from Allison Janney as the tournament’s director, a former spelling champ, who will not tolerate this foolishness from Guy. The verbal sparring matches between these adversaries crackle with energy as she barely conceals her contempt. And there’s the wonderful screen veteran Phillip Baker Hall as the Golden Quill founder, who tries to maintain an old fashion sense of dignity about the glories of learning as his legacy devolves into little more than a vulgar “big-time” style rasslin’ match. And for a few bonus laughs there’s the hilarious Rachel Harris as the most aggressive of the outraged parents.
Director Bateman gives the film a dark, murky look, perhaps to reflect Trilby’s skewed attitude . This is not the typical sunny California settings of most screen comedies. This gives an extra burst to the tournament itself when we view the proceedings through the shiny candy-colored lens of the TV cameras (perhaps a comment about the artificiality of reality programming?). Often Bateman relies a bit too much on slow motion action in an opening escape scene and later as Guy and Cahitanya have a hell-raising night on the town all set to blaring hip-hop and other popular tunes. The later montage goes on a tad too long with many gags that would rightly toss Guy into the slammer. This might have been intended as an homage to Max’s seduction of Leo in THE PRODUCERS, but it plays almost as child endangerment. First time feature screenwriter Andrew Dodge gives us a bonanza of yuks in that gangbuster first half hour, but like many recent comedies it begins to run out of steam after the one hour mark as pathos rears its head and subverts the early subversive attitude and we do finally get a half-hearted look at Guy’s motivations. Fortunately there’s enough solid laughs to make this first foray in feature film making a cause for celebration. Bateman has been an impressive, smart comedy MVP for many years now. BAD WORDS gives us hope that he will prove to be just the same behind the camera.
3.5 Out of 5
