One of the few pastimes I had with my mother was spelling.  One of us would encounter a particular word throughout the day, remember it, and then ask the other to spell it the next time we saw each other.  While these terms were nothing (usually) to what you see in Bad Words (2013), we had fun with it, taking a little pride when we could stump each other.  When it comes to such a title, I also focused on the first part, “Bad.”  As I grew up, my mother also forbade my sister and I from using foul language.  I did not understand the reasons for this rule, nor was I ever told.  She was, and is, a “do as I say, not as I do” kind of parent.  Because of this, as got older we looked for opportunities to loosen our tongues.  It is not until the last decade or so that I realized the error of my ways.  Nowadays, these words that you will thankfully never hear in a spelling bee, I view as a verbal crutch.  They have become so common that it seems to me people utter them when they can literally think of nothing else to say.  Put differently, they lack creativity.  I write this in spite of the fact that I am by no means perfect in this area of diction.  All the same, you will see how all these thoughts are apropos of today’s film.

I mentioned a spelling bee a moment ago in talking about Bad Words because Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman) is about to be given his first term for the national competition.  If this does not sound strange, then it should be noted that he is a 40-plus-year-old-man going against children aged eleven.  In the opening voice over, he acknowledges how crazy this appears.  But, despite also admitting that he did not think this course of action through, he claims to have a plan.  We are then taken back to the last step before he gets to this level.  He is accompanied on this mad scheme by reporter Jenny Widgeon (Kathryn Hahn).  When the organizers of this more local spelling bee question a grown man’s entry, Guy and Jenny underscore the rules stating that he is allowed to be there, and threatening legal action if he is not allowed to continue.  On top of his smug assuredness as to the loophole he is exploiting, he is belligerent towards everyone, including his accomplice.  Thus, it is probably unsurprising that he is chased out of the building, trophy in hand.  Even though he is not nice to her, she continues to fund his expedition in order to get a story, flying him to California for the nationals.  He also rebuffs her attempts at getting information from him, even when they sleep with each other.  Later she resorts to getting a background check done on him by a friend who is an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  Sitting in front of him on the plane is Chaitanya Chopra (Rohan Chand).  He is a more age-appropriate boy who is eager to befriend Guy.  All Guy wants is to be left alone, and he employs every dirty trick to get out of chatting, including racial stereotypes connected to the kid’s Indian heritage.  For the moment, Guy is only marginally successful.  Upon arriving at the Golden Quill, the name of the institution that hosts the national spelling bee, he meets its current director Dr. Bernice Deagan (Allison Janney).  She is there to put an end to this upstart’s supposedly unfair run through the ranks of adolescent spellers.  Though she does not directly kick him out of the tournament, she makes it clear that he will not be long for the competition.  The first trick she employs to get him off his game is to book him a room in his hotel’s supply closet, and ensure that the staff treats him in an unwelcoming fashion.  Finally, when he easily makes it through the first round and the parents of the other children demand that he be automatically disqualified, she decides to tamper with the words.  This is a major violation, and it leads to her being forced to resign her post.  Meanwhile, Chaitanya finally breaks through Guy’s gruffness, and Guy takes Chaitanya for a night on the town.  I am not going to detail this because a lot of it is inappropriate.  It is also done as a montage.  What is arguably stranger about it is that it happens at all.  Chaitanya’s parents book a separate room for their son in a different hotel, feeling like he needs the experience . . . at eleven years of age?  It is odd, too, because they are not portrayed as the villains of the film.  What ruins this improbable, budding friendship is Guy overhearing Chaitanya and his father, Sriram Chopra (Anjul Nigam), talking about the boy using the relationship with Guy as a strategy to win.  Guy bursts into the room, denouncing the pair over Chaitanya’s protests.  As revenge, Chaitanya calls the police and tells them that Guy has a kidnapped teenager in his room.  It is Jenny that bails Guy out of jail.  As she does so, she informs him that she has learned the identity of his father.  It is none other than Dr. William Bowman (Philip Baker Hall), founder and president of the Golden Quill.  He has also been acting as co-host for the television broadcast of the national spelling bee.  Because Dr. Bowman had walked out on Guy’s mother years ago, Guy’s efforts have all been about embarrassing his dad.  With how the parents have reacted, and Dr. Bowman’s desperation to quell the restless crowd, Guy feels his mission is accomplished.  Thus, he purposely misspells his last word in order to give Chaitanya the trophy.  Because the kid feels guilty for what he has done, he also gives an incorrect spelling.  It turns into a sort of brawl between them as they are each angry for the other not acquiescing to their sacrifice, which ends with Dr. Bowman getting hit in the head with a chair.  Finally, Guy tricks Chaitanya into technically getting one right, making the boy the champion.  Later, as Guy and Jenny are leaving, they run into Dr. Bowman.  Guy gives Dr. Bowman a letter apologizing and explaining everything before departing.  The last scene is Guy picking up Chaitanya in order to have some more shenanigans.

With Bad Words, we are once more dealing with somebody who is wounded and not knowing how to handle it.  This comes up so much, particularly in Christianity, because the world is such a broken and fallen place.  We carry our problems around with us, sometimes for a lifetime.  It is made clear that Guy grew up without his father, though his mother did not do much to help the situation.  Though an unquestionably bright person, his hurt apparently manifested itself when he bitterly dropped out of school in the eighth grade.  This is the aforementioned loophole, and he is ready with his transcripts should anyone question him.  Towards the end, he reveals that his mother on her deathbed finally tells him the identity of his father.  In his anger, he made the decision to get revenge on the person he blames for all his hurt by entering the spelling bee.  When going through my training as a spiritual director, one thing we were taught is to never make a choice when you are in a state of desolation.  Holding on to a terrible upbringing, cutting short a potentially bright academic career, and being aware of being alone at his age all qualify as a pretty tough emotional and mental space.  In Mark 2:17, Jesus said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.  I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”  Unfortunately, it is not to Jesus that Guy turns to for healing, though he does learn the right lessons.  I may not enjoy how he gets to the right place, but it there is an arc.  We can help ourselves more easily by turning to that one true physician.  Think of it this way: doctors do not come to us, we go to them.  Thus, whatever it is that you are feeling inside can be treated by bringing it to Him.  You do not need to take advantage of a loophole in a competition for kids, or drink and swear as much as Guy does, to do so.

Those things that I say about what Guy does are more than just boozing and Bad Words.  It is actually shocking some of the things he does when he goes out on the town with Chaitanya.  They do not bear repeating.  As such, I do not recommend watching this movie.  It is okay in how it ends, but the journey is not worth it.