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The Movie:
 As much as I
hate to admit it, I am absolutely awful at the game of
SCRABBLE®. I was an English major in college, and I've been
writing for as long as I can remember, but something about making
words out of those little tiles just boggles my mind. When it's
my turn, I often find myself drawing a blank, taking way too
much time, and eventually putting down something my infant niece
could have conjured up from my rack. So, needless to say, I was
immediately intrigued by the idea of a documentary that follows
four of the world's top players as they advance to the North
American Championship in San Diego.
A hit at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, Word Wars
takes the viewer deep into the intense world of competitive
SCRABBLE®, whether it be in a tournament with more than 700
players or a dozen highly dedicated folks in New York City's
Washington Square Park. Directors Eric Chaikin (a highly-skilled
tournament player himself) and Julian Petrillo follow four rather
eccentric, and often genius, players as they hustle, study, and
triple-word-score their way for several months on the way to the
National Finals. Reminiscent of another excellent documentary
about an activity that most would consider fairly docile but
turns out to be ravenously competitive, Spellbound,
Chaikin and Petrillo's film wins us over by allowing us to not
only see the competition itself, but also the ins-and-outs of
these four competitors. We learn their strategies and preparation
methods as well as their quirks and idiosyncrasies.
 Not to take
anything away from their obvious genius, but you'd probably be
hard-pressed to find a stranger bunch of guys than Matt Graham,
Marlon Hill, Joe Edley, and "G.I." Joel Sherman. Graham
is a stand-up comic who shows up to a tournament wearing a
tattered t-shirt, and swallows an excessive amount of "brain
function" pills. Hill is a, self-admitted, poor Black
militant who hates the English language and just can't wait to
"go home." Edley is a three-time SCRABBLE® champion
who uses Zen strategy to "balance [his] biorhythms."
And, finally, we have "G.I." Joel Sherman who didn't
get that nickname by being a rough-and-tumble military hero, but
rather from his "gastro-intestinal" problems, which
force him to down copious amounts of Maalox while playing. See
what I mean? Find me a weirder group of guys and I'd be very
surprised. As strange as this group is, however, they are even
more fascinating to watch as they prepare to try and become the
latest National Champion.
If you thought spelling-bees could be intense, just wait until
you see what lengths these players go to while getting ready for
a SCRABBLE® tournament. Chaikin and Petrillo do a nice job of
ratcheting up the tension as the tournament progresses, and truly
place the viewer in a position to root for these players. They
provide their participants with plenty of screen time to
development as a whole before showing them in rigorous
competition, thus allowing us to actually care whether they win
or lose. It's hard not to eventually root for Graham, Hill, and
Sherman as they take on Edley - the three-time champion everyone
seems to hate. We see all their faults and their delusions of
grandeur about the state of SCRABBLE® on the national level,
just as we see their genius and tenacity. In showing us all the
sides of these four characters, Chaikin and Petrillo allow us to
see their participants as truly human and, in turn, truly
fascinating. If you've ever played the game of SCRABBLE®, then
you know just how hard it is to come up with the right words when
you need them most. Graham, Hill, Sherman, and Edley seem to be
able to summon the right words almost at will. Getting to see
them do it throughout the duration of Word Wars is a
thrill almost akin to using all seven tiles and getting that
ever-elusive 50-bonus-point Bingo.
The DVD
Video:
 Word Wars
is presented in a 1.33:1 full frame transfer that looks pretty
much like what you would expect from a digital video production.
Detail is somewhat lacking, colors bloom occasionally, and the
entire picture tends to look a bit flat. This is, however, all
due to the quality of the original source material. The transfer
itself holds up just fine as I saw no sign of pixelation or
compression artifacts at all throughout the film. Given its
inherent limitations, this transfer is easily the best the film
is ever going to look.
Sound:
The audio on this disc is presented in a Dolby 2.0 stereo format,
which must deal with the same issues as the visual presentation.
The quality of the source material is adequate, at best, and this
track does the best it possibly can, given those limitations.
Dialogue is of utmost importance for a film like Word Wars,
and is handled nicely by this track. Narration and dialogue is
always crisp, clear, and distinct. Although the soundtrack itself
is slightly annoying at time, its presentation is nicely balanced
across the front soundstage and is never overwhelming. This audio
presentation isn't something to show off your home theater system
with, but it does manage to get the job done.
Extras:
 Included on
this disc is just over 20 minutes worth of bonus footage
originally cut from the film. The footage itself looks and sounds
just as good as the rest of the film, and its inclusion on this
disc is certainly a welcome addition. Included are a few funny
moments from our four "word warriors," and some great
extra footage from Washington Square Park. The filmmakers are
even kind enough to bring us up to date on many of the film's
participants.
Also included are trailers for three other
FeatureDocs films.
Final Thoughts:
A great slice-of-life documentary that won acclaim at several
festivals in 2004, Word Wars is a fascinating look into
the surprisingly intense world of competitive SCRABBLE®. If
you've ever played the game, you will most definitely find this
film an interesting look at just how seriously some people take
it. It nearly even made me get that old SCRABBLE® board out of
the closet and challenge someone to a game. That is, until I
realized how horrendously bad I am at making big words out of
those little tiles. As for me, I'd rather just watch the film
again. It's certainly never looked and sounded better than it
does on this DVD, and the inclusion of some very nice bonus
footage makes this a disc I can easily R-E-C-O-M-M-E-N-D. Yes!
Triple-word-score! |
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