I adore Jason Bateman. I think his wicked and often irreverent sense of humour is amazingly similar to my own, and his talent on screen really knows no bounds. So when I found out he was setting his feature directorial debut in the competitive world of the national spelling bee (I was Area 4 champion in Grade 8 – just sayin’), I knew I had to see it. Getting a ticket wasn’t as easy as I had hoped, however, and I ended up having to stand in a rush line in the rain to get into the second screening, but it was well worth it. WELL worth it.

Bateman plays Guy Trilby, a grown man in his forties who – for reasons unknown – decides to exploit a loophole in the rules and enters himself into a spelling competition intended for elementary school-aged children. Guy is intent upon making it all the way to the national championship and winning it all, therefore showing no mercy to his young competitors, their parents, or the contest administrators. To aid him in his quest, he brings along a rather sexy (though she doesn’t know it) reporter, Jenny (Kathryn Hahn), who helps to ensure that no manner of angry parent nor displeased coordinator can have Guy ejected from the competition prematurely.

One by one, Guy destroys the other competitors, either by beating them outright with his mad spelling skills, or by messing with their minds to throw them off their games. On his way to the big show, however (the National Quill Spelling Bee to be televised, no less), Guy accidentally – and despite his best efforts to the contrary – befriends one young boy, Chaitanya (Rohan Chand) who would turn out to be one of his biggest challengers to the spelling bee trophy. The lad is so charmingly sincere and alone that Guy decides that maybe it’s okay not to keep absolutely everyone at arm’s length, and takes the youngster under his wing – for better or for worse.

The script from Andrew Dodge is perfectly-paced, and the laughs come fast and furious throughout the entire film. Bateman’s comedic timing and pitch perfect delivery is superb as always, and he has surrounded himself with talented costars at every turn. Some lines are so chalk full of hilarious content that I’d laugh so hard at the first third of a sentence that I’d drown out the next two thirds with my own gales of guffaws. As a director, Bateman dances around, over and back across the line of what his lead character should be able to get away with, and in anyone else’s hands, I’m not sure this film would work quite as well. Every time I thought Guy had gone a bit too far, he’d dial it back and be so begrudgingly sweet that one couldn’t help but root for him. The chemistry between the three leads is immensely evident from the start, as well, and Rohan’s performance in particular lends a great deal of heart to a film that could have ended up being more of a one-note tale, had everything not all clicked together so well. Instead, however, Bad Words is a lovely layered film worthy of multiple viewings, and I have no doubt that it will be a permanent resident in my collection as soon as it becomes available.

I already can’t wait to see it again.

Bad Words screens one more time at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday September 14th at 9pm.