Bad Words

Guy Trilby is a forty-year-old man who finds a loophole in the rules of a national spelling bee and enters the competition, which is meant for children. His goal is to win, having been driven by a grudge since his own spelling failure in the eighth grade. Once he is in the contest, he meets Chaitanya, a young fellow competitor, and the two form an unexpected bond, while Guy also becomes involved with Jenny Widgeon, a journalist covering the event. The film is a comedy built on the clash between Guy's sour temperament and the children's world he has forced his way into.

Bad Words is the first film directed by Jason Bateman, who also stars as Guy Trilby. It was written by Andrew Dodge and produced by Sean McKittrick, Bateman and Mason Novick, with a cast that includes Kathryn Hahn as Jenny Widgeon, Rohan Chand as Chaitanya Chopra, Philip Baker Hall, Allison Janney and Ben Falcone. Bateman went on to direct The Family Fang in 2016.

Made on a budget of about 10 million dollars, the film took in roughly 8 million dollars worldwide. Its ratings are close to one another, with a critics' score of 6.1 out of 10 from 131 reviews, 6.7 on IMDb from 58,000 votes and 6.4 on TMDB from 922 votes.