First off: Bad Words is not nearly as horrible as many reviewers made it out to be upon release. Actually, it’s a fairly decent black comedy that has shades of World’s Greatest Dad rather than Horrible Bosses. Jason Bateman’s first directorial effort follows Guy Trilby, also played by Bateman, an adult using a loophole to try to win a national spelling bee. The script’s raunchy and offensive, but not without purpose, though the shocking twist is painfully obvious from the beginning. I think Bateman could make a go of it as a director of similar small, dark comedies as evidenced by this first adequately successful entry.