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Jason Bateman is making his directorial debut with the upcoming Bad Words. The actor also stars in the film in which he plays a 40-year-old man who joins an 8th grade spelling bee competition through a loophole, causing havoc in the process. During his shenanigans, he befriends a fellow competitor while a reporter attempts to figure out exactly why he would join a spelling bee in the first place.

Bad Words represents a complete role reversal from what we’ve grown accustomed to of Bateman and the typical characters he portrays.  With the film also serving as his feature-film directorial debut, extra excitement is building for it. The plot seems kind of bland, but I’m confident Bateman can take the premise and run with it. I am cautious about the old man/young boy friendship element to it (I’m not a big fan of buddy comedies that follow this pairing), but we’ll see how it turns out.

Bad Words will have a limited theatrical release on March 14th with a wide release on March 28th.