I don't know how long it had been since I'd seen this before catching the recent "Classic Films" screening. Several years, at least. It's been one of my favorite movies for a long time, but there were stretches in the past where I would watch it almost once a day, so taking a long break from the material was probably a good idea.
It was fun to see the film again, on the big screen, no less. It still holds up well and boasts some great performances. Its use of voiceover narration throughout the film is effective and warranted, a rarity in film, though it is likely what inspired filmmakers to give Morgan Freeman long passages of narration in just about every future film he has appeared in, whether it was necessary in those cases or not. My tastes in film and my ability to analyze them have grown since my previous viewing, so I did pick up on a few issues I hadn't noticed before. It can be argued that the black and white lens through which the film views many of its characters is a bit simplistic. Most all of the convicts are good people, except those the film needs to be bad, while the warden is unequivocally a "bad guy" with next to nothing in the way of redeeming qualities. This simplicity doesn't bother me too much, as it serves the story that the film is interested in telling, but it is hard to completely discount the criticism. Would it have been interesting to see Morgan Freeman's character still wrestling with some demons from his past over the course of the film, instead of starting out as a pretty clear cut good guy? Yes, it probably would have, but that's not the story the film is trying to tell, and would likely have added to the run time.
About a year ago, the film was left off Entertainment Weekly's list of the 100 best movies ever made, a decision that many took issue with. I for one think that it definitely deserved a place on the list. Making a movie set almost completely inside a prison into a beloved crowd pleaser is no easy task. On the other hand, considering that the list included the massively overrated final "Lord of the Rings" film and ranked it above films like "On the Waterfront" and "Lawrence of Arabia", maybe being left off entirely was an honor.
Maybe not a very memorable film (not many straight comedies are, for me, anyway), but very funny. I have always enjoyed dark, irreverent humor, and this film did not disappoint.
The film's most impressive feat is that it manages to tell its story without ever ceasing to be funny or losing that sense of irreverence. Most comedies with antiheroes fail in the third act when it becomes necessary to reveal the character's inner humanity and demonstrate what he has learned over the course of the film (all together now: "Awww..."). "Bad Words" lets us know from very early on that the main character has some kind of secret agenda in entering himself in a kids' spelling bee. This lets us know that there is a deeper level to the character, and makes later revelations about him feel natural, not forced into the film like they often would be. Even when he decides to act selflessly in the film's climax, the film manages to keep things fresh and original. His attempt is rebuffed by the very kid he's trying to help, and they end up getting into a fight over it. In most comedies like this, the character's decision to finally do something selfless would be the end of the dramatic arc, but here he has to struggle to succeed in doing the right thing, even after deciding to do it. It was incredibly refreshing to see a film manage to hit all the beats that are expected in this type of movie while still maintaining its irreverent edge.
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