Bad Words casts a hilarious spell.

| Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 2, 2020

The representation of super-focused oddballs in Bateman's film is not terribly intriguing.

| Aug 13, 2020

Bad Words is utterly wrong in all the right ways ... a small movie with a huge mouth. When you aren't laughing, you'll find yourself smiling at its sweetness.

| Jun 29, 2020

A plodding mess punctuated by scenes of audacious bad taste.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 22, 2019

It is capable of being funny, sure, but it's a movie that works way better in its dramatic moments.

| Oct 31, 2019

There's a casual energy to Bad Words that makes it one of the few comedies you actually wouldn't mind being a little bit longer.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 29, 2019

"Bad Words" isn't afraid to cross the line of political correctness, an R-rated comedy that features plenty of laughs but also has gags that are rather uncomfortable to watch (but effective as well).

| Original Score: B | Feb 1, 2019

Yes, the film is foul, crude, vulgar, but especially: It's funny. Bad Words is the kind of movie you should be ashamed you enjoyed so much.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Oct 12, 2018

"Bad Words" has a dark, nasty streak a mile wide, but there is something ever so slightly redemptive at its core, that makes it more than just an exercise in unpleasant behavior.

| Aug 22, 2018

It is truly a bizarre premise for a movie, but it works.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 21, 2018

Although rather shallow in its characterizations, Bad Words makes up for this deficiency in its rollicking, R-rated demolition of a familiar character-building institution: the spelling bee.

Full Review | Aug 8, 2017

Bateman has cornered the market on ornery average dudes with rapier wits.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 14, 2016

Chand holds his own opposite Bateman and steals much of the film with a deceptively ruthless cunning, hidden beneath the cutest, most innocent smile in the world.

| Original Score: B | Jun 23, 2016

Bateman handles the edgy material with confidence and gets excellent performances from co-stars Kathryn Hahn, Allison Janney and Philip Baker Hall, and particularly from Rohan Chand.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 15, 2016

The film's dialogue is so crude, its star so inherently - and paradoxically - likable, and its plot so lightweight that it essentially cancels itself out.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 9, 2016

...a withering send-up of our kid-obsessed culture, in which childhood has been reimagined as a procession of parent-directed accomplishments.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 14, 2014

[Allison Janney's] presence on any show or movie ultimately has a kind of 'Poochie' effect: whenever she's not on screen you just expect everyone else to be wondering, "Where's Janney?", hoping that somehow spirits her back.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 20, 2014

Bad Words is a worthwhile -- if predictable -- dark comedy, particularly for those with a somewhat cruel sense of humor.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Aug 18, 2014

Bateman...is one of those actors whose immense warmth can't be concealed no matter how disagreeable the character and he manages...to keep the fraying edges...forgivable.

| Jun 28, 2014

Bad Words does to spelling bees what Bad Santa did to Christmas phoniness.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 14, 2014