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He Has a Way With ‘Bad Words’ Jason Bateman let his mouth run wild for his directorial debut Jason Bateman fully admits his character Guy Trilby isn’t anyone’s idea of a hero. In “Bad Words,” Bateman’s directorial debut that opens Friday, Trilby worms his way into a children’s spelling bee on a technicality (he never passed the eighth grade). He’s smarmy and vulgar and just not the guy you’d want hanging out with your middle schooler. Or you. Or anyone on the planet. Yet Bateman had to make him watchable enough so that the comedy’s audiences could root for him, if only a little bit. “It’s not a tried-and-true formula,” Bateman says. “One of my favorite shows growing up was ‘All in the Family,’ and Archie Bunker said a lot of things that were very un-PC, but [Carroll O’Connor]
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Spelling-bee infiltrator Guy Trilby — played by Jason Bateman — does bad things in “Bad Words,” Bateman’s directorial debut.
‘Bad Words’ (R) Director: Jason Bateman Stars: Bateman, Kathryn Hahn and Allison Janney Quick Take: Bateman’s directorial debut looks great, with smart use of slow motion and shots that are framed to amp up the comedy. Bateman, who’s so often the put-upon straight man, really stretches himself here. His deadpan delivery works just as well in the role of a wicked antihero as it does when he plays Michael Bluth in “Arrested Development.” And although his character might be a one-trick pony, Bateman’s directing proves he’s got skills to spare. STEPHANIE MERRY (TWP)
somehow managed to perform the character in a way where you thought it was a place of ignorance rather than a place of hatred.” Bateman (“Identity Thief”) is known for playing the put-upon nice guy these days, but Trilby doesn’t come out of left field. When Bateman was a child actor in ’80s sitcoms, he quickly found a niche
Breaking Away From the Pack Film Review It’s rare that a movie is as good as the book on which it’s based. It’s even more unusual when it’s better. With the film adaptation of “Divergent,” the first novel in Veronica Roth’s trilogy of dystopian thrillers, director Neil Burger
has crafted a popcorn flick that’s leaner, more propulsive and more satisfying than the best-seller that inspired it. The film even features an ending that more cleverly utilizes the story’s teenage heroine Tris (Shailene Woodley) without changing the outcome. “Divergent” imagines a society in which the citizenry is divided into monolithic factions according to personality. Tris is “divergent,” meaning that she has equal aptitude for more than one faction. Although
KRISTEN PAGE-KIRBY (E XPRESS)
‘Divergent’ (PG-13)
JAAP BUITENDIJK (SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT)
The ‘Divergent’ film is a thrilling standout in the young adult genre
playing smug, manipulative brats who were oddly likable. Helming “Bad Words,” Bateman made sure to bring shading that rescued his latest character from irredeemability. “You might be saying something very hateful, but it’s important to balance that with a look of regret,” Bateman says. As director, “I knew I’d get that look in the film.” It doesn’t bother Bateman that Trilby occasionally reaches F-bomb critical mass, often in the presence of a prepubescent tagalong competitor (Rohan Chand). It also doesn’t bug him that Trilby doesn’t come out of the film much of a changed man. “There are plenty of great movies out there that send their messages in a bit more of a clearer way, with a tighter ribbon around it,” he says. “Those aren’t the films I’m drawn to. I’m reluctant to enjoy things that are too precious. Being in the director’s chair I was able to navigate those moments and put them, for better or for worse, right on my sensibility.”
Zoe Kravitz, left, and Shailene Woodley play chicken in “Divergent.”
that makes her merely human, it also means that she’s harder to corral, and must hide her capabilities. Woodley makes for an appeal-
ingly complex Tris, a heroine whose sense of loss at leaving her family behind is tempered by the thrill of discovering new powers, both moral
Director: Neil Burger Stars: Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Kate Winslet In a Nutshell: A teen learns she’s divergent and tries to foil a plot to destroy others like her who won’t fit in.
and physical. The book spent a lot of ink exploring the romance between Tris and the handsome Four (Theo James). The movie serves up an even more fully f leshed version of Tris. She’s fascinating for what she does, not merely for who she likes. M I C H A E L O ’ S U L L I VA N (THE WASHINGTON POST )