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17 reviews in total

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11 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Pathetic, or enlightened?, 18 July 2004

Author: chamletter from SIlver Spring, MD

I have to disagree vehemently with littlesiddie (though I do love Cambridge, LS!) -- Word Wars is one of the funniest, most engrossing, and occasionally even touching movies I've seen in the past few years, and I don't even like Scrabble. The movie introduces us to 4 top Scrabble competitors, with very different backgrounds, personalities, and approaches to preparing for combat. Their stories reveal a lifestyle that is consumed with Scrabble, as the competitors spend hours memorizing obscure words and battling each other into the wee hours, oblivious to their surroundings, their poverty, their lack of girlfriends....Our heroes (no heroines; women apparently just aren't that obsessive) are at once pathetic, inspiring, and hilarious as we watch the tension build toward the ultimate showdown, the final test of memory, stamina, and individual dominance, the national championship for the big bonanza...grand prize $25,000. Are they just laughable geeks, with no sense of what's important in life? Or are they the truly enlightened, having found their Nirvana in the land of triple word scores? (Plus you learn a lot of cool words.)

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8 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Interesting insight into an odd obsession, 25 August 2004

Author: anhedonia from Planet Earth

Scrabble-lovers know what it's like to be hooked by the game. But for most of us, it's still only a game, not an obsession. The people in "Word Wars" live for Scrabble.

The four players we meet - "G.I." Joel (gets his nickname because his gastrointestinal system's a mess and he isn't shy about it), Matt, Marlon and Joe - have turned winning Scrabble tournaments into their lives' mission. Joel's preferred beverage is Maalox; Marlon plays the angry black man, but uses his skills to help an inner-city school's Scrabble Club; Matt's more often broke than not; and three-time national champ Joe uses meditation and tai chi to psyche out his opponents, but often is so full of himself, he doesn't realize how dull his lecture on winning strategies is.

Watching "Word Wars," I was reminded of "Spellbound," the Oscar-nominated documentary about the 1999 National Spelling Bee, and wondered if this is what happens to those obsessive, driven kids who fail to win the Spelling Bee.

Filmmakers Eric Chaikin and Julian Petrillo worry less about the game than getting into the heads of these four chaps, none of whom is easily likable. They know and tolerate each other, but aren't really friends. But they enjoy a pleasant camaraderie. We even see one shave the neck hairs off another in a hotel room.

Chaikin and Petrillo also have fun with the graphics, using titles as anagrams and allowing the letter tiles to float about as the players contemplate their next words.

What's far more interesting than tournament play are the late-night Scrabble games in hotel rooms, Scrabble-player culture, bets placed on the side ($5 per game and a nickel per point), and Scrabble games at New York's Washington Square Park, where a local restaurateur reigns supreme, even beating Joe, who, of course, returns later for a rematch. There's also an amusing discussion about the controversy surrounding the creation of an inoffensive Scrabble dictionary.

We see these four players cramming as many words as possible, rarely, if ever, bothering to learn the definitions. But there's definite skill in what they do during games and it's impressive. (We're told Matt won a game in 96 seconds!) Somehow we wind up caring about these people. When one of them gets a lousy set of tiles and walks away in frustration, we empathize. All of us who've played Scrabble have been there.

"Word Wars" is at times humorous, thrilling and even occasionally touchingly sad. It's not on par with, say, "Control Room," "Fahrenheit 9/11" or "Super Size Me," but there's something curiously absorbing about its peculiar people. And you really have to admire a film that expands the vocabulary of its audience. How many films can you say that about?

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Especially for Scrabble enjoyers, 17 August 2004

Author: mbnx from nw oregon

Anyone who has enjoyed a game of Scrabble will enjoy this movie. The Scrabble champions depicted in the movie (real people, not actors) play a game unlike any you're likely to find in the family living room. Words you've never heard of are so common in their games that you almost want to have a dictionary by your side while viewing the film. The only thing stranger than the words are the contenders themselves. "Neurotic", "self-centered", and "compulsive" are a few of the words that can be used to describe them. But, you can't help but watch them--kinda like watching a train wreck in some ways.

If you are in the category of "Scrabble enjoyers", you will also like the book "Word Freak" by Stefan Fatsis (the book, in fact, is the genesis for the idea of the film).

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Excellent Docu for people who like Docus, 10 April 2006

Author: Hattori Hanzoo from United States

Extremely well-paced flick with excellent climax (unlike many meandering documentaries) it is much like an adult "Spellbound." Much like that movie, these people are fascinating characters more than anything else, and in many instances scrabble takes a backseat to the force of their personalities. It focuses on four masters competing in the days leading up to the Nationals - between the egos involved, the inter-personal problems and competition anxiety there is a ton of pathos and conflict that is also reminiscent of Fred Wiseman's early documentaries. I agree there could have been more focus on the nitty-gritty of specific matches or more information on strategy, but I think I (and others) would have gotten bored watching too much actual scrabble play.

If you like documentaries at all, this comes highly recommended, it is very well edited and maintains interest the whole time.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Informative, often depressing film about obsession, 5 March 2006

Author: ivescharles from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I just watched "Word Wars", which is about tournament Scrabble players. I really enjoyed "Spellbound", a similar documentary about the national spelling bee contest, which also tracks the trajectories of 4 competitors, so I thought I'd be equally enlightened.

The Scrabble enthusiasts turn out to be largely unemployed, geeky, and with limited social skills. The game has consumed their lives, and they spend almost every waking minute memorizing anagrams for given sets of letters. (Did you know that Narcoleptic is an anagram for Eric Clapton?) Making matters worse, the top prize in the national Scrabble competition is $25,000; smaller competitions pay far less. Not a lot of money is at stake, so most of the "pros" scrape by on a meager existence (usually living off their families.) One of the film's subjects explained that his brain was now conditioned for one purpose, and that he had no other skills or abilities, and thus could not contribute to society in any meaningful way. Rather than making me more interested in the game, it somewhat horrified me; it seemed more like crystal meth or crack cocaine in its debilitating drug-like effects on those smitten with it.

I actually would recommend the film; I did find it fascinating to watch, but at the same time I was depressed by it.

Perhaps the most poignant moment in the film occurs when one of the film's subjects (the one who previously explained that he was no longer capable of any socially or economically redeeming activity, someone racked with medical ills brought on by the anxiety of his condition) sits at a piano, and in a perfectly beautiful voice accompanies himself as he sings the Lennon/McCartney song:

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup, They slither while they pass, They slip away across the universe. Pools of sorrow waves of joy are drifting thorough my open mind, Possessing and caressing me.

Jai guru deva om, Nothing's gonna change my world...

And by the way: The Q without U words accepted in the U. S. Scrabble list are: QAT, QAID, QOPH, FAQIR, QANAT, TRANQ, QINDAR, QINTAR, QWERTY, SHEQEL, QINDARKA, and SHEQALIM (alternate plural of SHEQEL). The combined US/UK list (SOWPODS) adds (from Chambers Dictionary), with their plurals: BUQSHA, BURQA, INQILAB, MBAQANGA, MUQADDAM, QABALAH, QADI, QAIMAQAM, QALAMDAN, QASIDA, QI, QIBLA, QIGONG, QINGHAOSU, QIS, QIVIUT, QWERTIES, QWERTYS, SUQ, TALAQ, TRANQ, TSADDIQIM, TSADDIQ, TZADDIQIM, TZADDIQ, UMIAQ, WAQF, and YAQONA.

If you'd like to spend your waking hours memorizing useless crap like this, take up a Scrabble addiction.

Otherwise, watch "Word Wars".

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
An accurate depiction., 8 May 2004

Author: Dan Sereduick from Baltimore, MD

As a former tournament Scrabble player, this documentary was a delight to see. (I know and have played all four of the main subjects of the film.) People in that scene, especially at the top, are really that eccentric -- it's part of the allure of the tournament circuit, playing against people who are incredibly devoted to study and strategic analysis. The film accurately captures both the heart of the competitors as well as the frenetic energy that develops around trying to be the best. The documentary is informative beyond this one particular topic, in that way.

As far as documentaries go, it's clearly a second-tier documentary film. (It's not a "Capturing the Friedmans", a "Fog of War", a "Startup.com".) However, if you have an interest in seeing mad geniuses at work or the game of Scrabble taken to an extreme, I recommend this film highly. (8+ out of 10)

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Best Scrabble® Documentary to date, 30 April 2004

Author: turnip-7 from Baltimore, MD

This film is without a doubt the best Scrabble® Documentary film yet made. The story follows the efforts of four very different top-level Scrabble® players in their attempt to win the title of 2002 National Scrabble Champion. The directors highlight the disparate backgrounds and approaches to the game of the four principles, from the Tai Chi of 3 time champion Joe Edley to the mind-enhancing pharmaceuticals of Matt Graham. The film uses engaging graphics to explain how Scrabble® is played at the pro-level, and to highlight brilliant plays and anagrams. The audience gets a chance to "play along" with many plays of the main characters and many others on the tournament circuit. In addition, the story takes a foray into the subculture of "the parkies", the serious Scrabble®-playing denizens of Washington Square Park, NYC, and the history of the controversy that created the two dictionaries in use for Scrabble® today, one for the tournament players, and one for the general public.

By focusing on the people and not history of the game, Word Wars shows the tournament Scrabble® scene at its most human.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Word Wars is an amazing, exhilarating, and interesting film!, 3 June 2004
Author: Kreemie187

Word Wars, a comical documentary that traces the lives and study habits of four Scrabble enthusiasts, is fun and interesting from the beginning. Eric Chaikin, the brilliant writer and director, uses awesome, eye-catching graphics in the opening credits. From there, we are introduced to the "characters", each of whom has a unique, intriguing lifestyle. The film teaches the Scrabble basics, and draws the audience into the fun and competitiveness on the Scrabble circuit. We see the players as they train for the National Scrabble championships. Whether studying by means of meditation, or by means of playing endless games of Scrabble and memorizing volumes of words, all the players share a profound love for the game. I absolutely loved Word Wars. I loved the intense competition, and I loved the comical presentation of the Scrabble Circuit. Word Wars is a must see!

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
If you liked the book, check out the movie, 2 June 2004

Author: Lori from San Francisco Bay Area

This movie was inspired by Stefan Fatsis' book Word Freak. I read the book last year and really liked it, so I was looking forward to seeing the movie, which is peopled by some of the same characters. But even if you haven't read the book, the movie is still quite enjoyable. It begins several months before a National Scrabble tournament, and follows four competitors as they go through their trials and tribulations leading up to it.

The filmmakers had fun with anagramming throughout the movie, and did a very good job with letting the competitors speak for themselves. Like the book, the filmmakers visit the various sites the game is played, from living rooms to a park in New York to various competitions around the country.

If you enjoy playing Scrabble with friends, then you will definitely like this movie, which takes the game to a completely new level.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Great and Funny Documentary - A Must See!, 26 May 2004

Author: waiverwirepicks12 from New York, NY

I was one of the lucky few people to see WORD WARS at the 2004 Sundance Documentary Film Festival. Besides being a huge fan of documentary film, who hasn't played Scrabble once in their lives?

WORD WARS follows the lives (but I use that term loosely as you will see) of 4 top Scrabble players as they head to the National Scrabble Championships in San Diego, CA. To become a top Scrabble player, you pretty much have to give up all semblance of a normal lifestyle. >From shots of players practicing while driving, to the rooms filled with piles of books, the film gives a detailed, but humourous, look into these player's Scrabble obsessions.

My favorite character was Marlon Hill - the dude from the rough part of Baltimore, who waxes poetic on the injustices heaved upon the African-American community, while smoking a ton of pot, ALL while destroying his competition.

From the tight editing, excellent cinematography, and great use of The Beatles "Across the Universe", WORD WARS will leave you scrambling for more. Even if you have never played a game of Scrabble in your life - and who hasn't - this film is thoroughly enjoyable!

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