Two Clips from Jason Bateman's Directorial Debut, 'Bad Words'

Imagine if Michael Bluth was less neurotic and more psychotic, and that's a pretty good description of Jason Bateman's character in Bad Words. The film marks Bateman's directorial debut, and it's a vulgar, very R-rated effort about Guy Trilby, a vengeful man who uses a loophole to worm his way into the National Quill Spelling Bee against a bunch of little kids. And he has no problem psyching them all out with every manner of racial, ethnic, and gender-specific insult.

Two new clips from the film have been released, showing the rough and soft side to his character as he deals with a 10-year-old competitor (Rohand Chan) who just wants to be friends. Kathryn Hahn co-stars as a reporter and Trilby's occasional lover trying to figure out why he's doing what he's doing.

Having only recently seen it, I can't really comment on how it all comes together, but I can say that Andrew Hodge's script was clearly influenced by Bad Santa. Bad Words opens on March 14th.