Bad Words
The Museum of the Moving Image hosted a preview screening of Bad Words, a film soon to open directed by and starring Jason Bateman, of Arrested Development and other such things. Regrettably, the bad isn't good. Bateman plays a 40-something man who decides to participate in a spelling bee for children. He never finished 8th grade, so under the rules (can't have finished 8th grade before a certain date) he gets to play. We're supposed to guess, I suppose, how a man who never finished 8th grade can spell so many obscure words so precisely. According to the Q&A afterwards, cue cards were very important. But that helps the actor, not the character. Just like we're supposed to guess why a reporter for a magazine is following the guy around for a story. Really? No guessing on this: Bateman's character isn't content to leave things to change. While on stage, he'll talk to his fellow contestants and persuade one that he just slept with the kid's mot...