Jason Bateman has always had a little bit of a bad boy bubbling just underneath his good guy facade. It generally comes out as dry one-liners, but in Bad Words, the raunchy new spelling bee comedy (how often do you see that in a sentence?), Bateman has unleashed the monster.
Bad Words is Bateman’s debut as a feature film director. He plays a man-child 40 year old who crushes children in spelling bees. A quick glance at the trailer promises a crass, foul-mouthed morality tale. I assume that despite the dark, bitter comic tone of the trailer, Bateman will of course learn to grow by the end, as he and the lonely young boy will bond over spelling and, er, hookers. So we can expect crude humour and a few schmaltzy tearjerker moments.
It also promises a good cast: Allison Janney, Kathryn Hahn, Philip Baker Hall.
And a hooker named Marzipan …
