Bad Words

Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman) is a 40- year -old who has found a loophole to enter The Golden Quill, a national spelling bee for grade school children, much to the outrage of the gifted kids’ parents. Trilby has the upper hand at winning the bee, as he’s willing to use any dirty trick necessary to do so, including befriending his chief competition. The question at the heart of his behavior, though, is, “Why?”

ClearPlay In Action!

There are plenty of “naughty bits” in Bad Words, much of it with small children present, including a foray with a prostitute, menstrual jokes, language (about 100 instances), and many off-color insinuations. ClearPlay cuts these, and two scenes of noisy implied intercourse. Bad Words is full of bad behavior – with a grown man corrupting a younger boy – and is aimed at older audiences. However, the ClearPlayed version is actually sort of sweet.

While some scenes are heavily edited or cut altogether, enough is intact to sense the unlikely friendship being formed. Bad Words depends on shock – cut from the ClearPlayed version – for a lot of its pay-off, but as a movie about a grown man behaving badly and the resolution of his revenge, it’s okay in a School of Rock sort of way. Though maybe not as endearing.

Marty Nabhan - ClearPlay Antidisestablishmentarian

Rated R for crude and sexual content, language and brief nudity; 89 mins; Directed by Jason Bateman