Customer Reviews

Word Wars - Tiles and Tribulations on the Scrabble Game Circuit

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I had to seriously ask myself exactly what the directors of this amazing little film were trying to accomplish when they put together "Word Wars". Although we take a myopic look at World Championship Scrabble players, the film seemed to focus on human nature and psychology more than anything else.

Let me explain ...

This documentary follows the Scrabble-playing-lives of four obsessed players:

#1. "G.I." Joel Sherman, a dorky looking, 40-something guy with no job, sloppy clothes, and a nervous stomach that causes him to drink Mylanta by the gallon. He spends every minute of every day playing, thinking about, or studying words for Scrabble.

#2. Marlon Hill is a dreadlocked black man who is unemployed, bitter about how America treats its colored countrymen and women, smokes pot, and occasionally visits grade schools to tell the kids about why he plays Scrabble and how they can become good at it, too. He also apparently loves prostitutes, as we watch him go to Tijuana and employ one (or two). This guy also has a serious anger management problem.

#3. Matt Graham takes brain stimulating supplements (PILES of them!), wears sloth-like clothes with holes in them, and will play Scrabble anywhere at anytime with anyone ...especially if there are bets on the table.

#4. Joe Edley is one of the few players we see who actually has a job outside of Scrabble competitions. He's also the 2001 defending national champion. But can he maintain his crown?

Although Scrabble is why these men are battling to reach San Diego and play in the 2002 national tournament (Grand Prize, $25,000), it's their bizarre lifestyles and complete obsessiveness with Scrabble that really caught my interest. Living off of smaller tournament wins -- just a few thousand dollars at best -- and then, maybe, winning the $25,000 grand prize in San Diego, even the best player is living off of less than $35,000 a year! And he still has to pay for his travel, motels, meals, etc., at all of these events. Which begs the question, "How can you survive simply by winning Scrabble tournaments?" The easy answer is that they can't.

Although there was never any mention of it, I'm sure that many of these players live off of the welfare system and, probably, their families. I'm sure that many of them also have regular psychiatric visits and are on appropriate medication for multiple personality problems.

Interestingly, it is BECAUSE of these incredibly bizarre behaviors that you, the viewer, actually become vested in what happens to them.

Because they get angry with themselves and each other.

Because they smoke pot or drink medication to settle themselves down.

Because they refuse to find a job and make a sustainable living outside of Scrabble play.

All of these things made for a strangely interesting viewing experience. Not because of the Scrabble games, but because these are seriously flawed people playing it obsessively.

This documentary sheds light on four men who prepare to play in the National Scrabble Championship. Upon first impression, these guys may seem like nerds or idiots savants. One is employed; one is underemployed; and two have no jobs whatsoever. The work begs the question of how do they pay for food and shelter, Scrabble issues aside. One interviewee says participants have to pay for transportation and lodging to the Championship. Well, how were they able to do that? The first prize is $25,000. First off, that's less than the average American man earns in a year. Second, Uncle Sam is going to take a good chunk of that in taxes. So why be obsessed over something so trivial?

Original bad impressions aside, these men are mostly admirable and no different from many others. Like most males, they love competition, hanging with their boys, being obsessive over their leisure activities, and placing bets. These guys are no different from professional and student athletes who train 24-7 for very little compensation.

The most intriguing interviewee here is Marlon, the African-American gentleman. He looks like mumZ, the man who played Poet in the "Oz" series. But his actions reminded me of the Black character in "Chasing Amy." Marlon calls himself "a pre-Mecca Malcolm [X]." However, Malcolm at that time was a separatist; though Marlon speaks of Black empowerment and combating Eurocentricity, he hangs with all the white players here without any hesitations. Is he just all talk? Professional movie critics have registered their shock about his foul language and drugs-taking, but what stood out to me was his patronage of the "oldest profession." Like a positive brother, he coaches young, Black students in Scrabble. With his gift for words, I would love to have seen him get an early education degree and go teach at the type of school where he merely volunteers. I think I'm going to be digesting this Marlon guy, both simple and profound, for the next few weeks.

This documentary is a tribute to men who have a love of words. Both interviewees and the directors produce anagrams all over the place. I was proud to note that I knew the definitions or etymologies of approximately half of the words that the players spelled. To be honest, some of the spelled words were proper nouns and I thought those could not be used under official Scrabble rules. Still, I found it disturbing that players learned how to spell words but gave no thought, in fact avoided, learning their meanings.

Some critics have dismissed this documentary as "Spellbound for Grown Men." I enjoyed this documentary more than the former one. Whereas I felt pain for those child contestants, I was indifferent to these men because they have their full faculties and can make their own decisions. The winners and losers here will surprise you. I guess the meek will inherit the Earth.

I do recommend that every adult see this fine work.

"Word Wars" follows 4 competitive Scrabble players through the months leading up to the 2002 National Scrabble Championship in San Diego, whose winner takes home $25,000 and gets to appear on the Today Show. Invented in the 1930s, Scrabble had become a competitive exercise by the 1970s. Like the movie says, "this is not your grandmother's Scrabble". Each player gets 25 minutes on his or her clock per game. Tournaments last a few days. Some of the players study daily, agonize over strategy, travel from tournament to tournament, and have no visible means of support. Scrabble is an obsession.

"Word Wars" starts by interviewing Scrabble players in New York's Washington Square Park who play for a penny a point. They're a diverse group with some top notch players among them, and we periodically revisit the Park over the course of the film. Documentarians Eric Chaikin & Julian Petrillo have chosen 4 eccentric, but apparently not atypical, players through which to explore the "trials and tribulations on the Scrabble circuit". Matt Graham is a part-time comedy writer and stand-up comedian who takes brain-boosting supplements and smart drugs to sharpen his skills. Joe Edley is a former National Champion who relies on meditation to calm the emotional roller coaster of competitive Scrabble. He's also the only one of the group who has a family and steady job. "G.I." Joel Sherman aspires to be a professional Scrabble player -if only one could make a living at Scrabble. He's never far from his bottle of Maalox, which he chugs constantly for acid reflux. Marlon Hill has dreadlocks and a Scrabble-playing family. He teaches elementary school students how to play the game, answers their questions about competition, and admits that he does nothing for a living.

We follow these men through 3 tournaments, private competitions, meet some of their families, and listen to them discuss Scrabble, each other, and the mental processes involved in remembering so many words. Surprisingly, some very competitive Scrabble players are not native English speakers, or even good English speakers, and, as Marlon said, "word meanings are absolutely useless". There are also interviews with Executive Director of the National Scrabble Association John D. Williams and Hasbro Games President Dave Wilson, who talk about the controversies surrounding what words would be deemed acceptable by the Official Scrabble Dictionaries. 1987 National Champion Rita Norr talks about women in Scrabble. "Word Wars" culminates in day-by-day coverage of the 2002 National Championship in which 700 players competed. The film is a fun, interesting, and honest look at a quirky American subculture and its unusual brand of celebrity.

The DVD: There are 14 bonus sequences that provide more interviews with the 4 men, the Washington Square Park gang, and other players who participated in the Championship. And there are 3 trailers for other documentaries.

I purchased this DVD right after I rented it! I don't play Scrabble and never have but I found this behind the scenes peek into the Scrabble subculture utterly hilarious and fascinating. Marlon was a great addition to the cast even though many here disagree. He added the comic element.Yes he smoked pot and used foul language but you cant help but laugh. The extra footage is nice to see as well. While the documentary Spellbound was warm and charming, Word Wars was more raw and aggressive and utterly hilarious.

The graphics were snappy. The four individuals they followed around the circuit were interesting. The documentary made scrabble interesting. This game, the documentary asserts, is not the scrabble your grandmothers played. They use a clock to time the moves. The game is very competitive. The four competitors upon which the documentary focused were pathetic. Three of them did not have jobs. One was a night watchman for years. They were screwed up socially, but they could manipulate letters into words like no one else in the world. The movie was a fascinating character study.

A movie about Scrabble that needs an R rating? For language and drug use, this one qualifies. That mild-mannered national champion on the Today Show who looks like an accountant? Would you believe he's an obsessed man, living on Maalox and pumped up on whatever is the Scrabbler's form of steroids? This amusing and informative documentary reveals the shadowy underside of what looks like a pretty harmless, even rarified pastime. But leave your assumptions and stereotypes at the door.

The four Division 1 players that the filmmakers follow for 9 months are not somebody you'd probably like to know in real life. Lacking social skills (let alone social graces) they live in a twilight zone of words, words, words (forget what they mean, as long as they're in the official dictionary) and the inability to focus on anything else. When it's all over, you can shake your head and thank your lucky stars you never got hooked on this drug yourself. Not that the Game is the only addictive substance in the film. One player happily blunts his anxieties with whatever he's smoking in that pipe plus a trip to Tijuana for dubious R&R. In spite of it all, you'll find yourself cheering along with everyone else for the winner of the national championship. It's that kind of movie.

If you enjoy puzzle games or strategic competition, you should definitely see this movie; and, of course, if you're a Scrabble fan, too. This film does a great job depicting both the game, the brand, and the individual players involved.

'Word Wars' quite obviously has its genesis in Stefan Fatsis' outstanding book 'Word Freak,' a fascinating look at the Scrabble subculture. That said, I wish the movie used more of Fatsis. He appears here with some commentary, and the filmmakers note Fatsis' book and his immersion into the playing circuit. His observations on the game and its personalities at the tournament circuit's upper echelons are the best part of the movie. Additionally, Fatsis' book and this movie have resulted in ESPN now showing some of these tournaments. Fatsis is the analyst on these telecasts. His journalism background + his Scrabble cultural immersion make his commentary fascinating.

Fatsis does have his own Scrabble movie ('Scrabylon'), and that may have played a part. In truth, Fatsis' smaller role is probably due to the filmmakers' treasure trove of material resulting from its coverage of four of the nationally-ranked players. Frankly - and these guys would be the first to admit it - these are four less-than-fully-formed human beings. That's the fascination of the movie. Only one of the four has anything nearly resembling a 'job' as the general public would see it. These gentlemen have filled their lives with their Scrabble obsession.

It's of extremely good fortune for the filmmakers that one of the four featured individuals eventually triumphs that year - in front of the cameras - at the Nationals.

By the way, for viewers of the film, here's a neat kick: go to Stefan Fatsis' 'Word Freak' here on these pages and you'll see the spotlight review written by none other than G.I. Joel himself, Joel Sherman.

WORD WARS is a fun movie that follows 4 eccentric and obsessed scrabble whizzes on the road towards the 2002 National Scrabble Championships in San Diego. I am an occasional Scrabble nut, but nothing like these guys! There is former champ Joe Edley who meditates and does Shiatsu/Xen like exercises to keep himself mentally and physically prepared for the challenges that come with obsessive scrabble. The other 3 are even more eccentric- Matt Graham occasionally does stand up comedy (and once had a job with Conan O'Brien) but spends much of his time playing scrabble and using brain enhancers. Marlon Hill philosophizes on injustice towards people of color with colorful language- but he doesn't do much else except play scrabble, although he occasionally teaches scrabble to kids in an inner city school. GI Joel Sherman spends his time glugging down Maalox - GI here stands for 'gastrointestinal' reflux- and- as he does nothing else but play scrabble, wishes to become a professional scrabble player. (He would be, but alas, scrabble victories do not yet pay enough to support oneself).

While the title of the movie suggests an antagonistic relationship between the characters, it was pleasantly surprising to see how they well they get along. Obsessive scrabble players clearly form a small, close-nit group. Matt Graham and GI Joel Sherman have 'best of 50' matches- the winner takes cash. Marlon Hill constantly curses Matt Graham for playing 'fake' words- but hangs out with him all the time and even helps him groom his hair. Joe Edley remains a bit apart from the rest, perhaps because he is the only one with a full time job and a family, but is on good terms with everyone as well.

Apart from the 'official' circuit (as played by these 4 men) we also see a bit of the unofficial games taking place at Washington Square where regulars play in an inner city atmosphere among the chaos of cars, noisy pedestrians and occasional protestors. One gets the impression that these people consider themselves the 'real' scrabble players, versus the 'pansies' who play the competitive circuit.

Apart from following the lives of these characters, we also learn a bit about the game itself. In the official tournaments, each player only has 25 minutes total on his/her clock (no spending 30 minutes on one turn, like my family members and I do!). The clock starts even if the player doesn't show up- the movie shows a hilarious scene of Marlon Hill strolling in about 10 minutes late for a game- he wins comfortably anyway. We also learn about the controversy over the scrabble dictionary- after much debate, it was settled to have two version of the bible of scrabble- the sanitized 'family version' and the 'official version' with all kinds of naughty words.

Finally, the film and characters also give us scrabble novices strategies to win. One should view the game from a math angle, since at higher levels, scrabble is a numbers game as much as a word game. It also helps to keep track of all the letters that have already been used in a game, so one knows which letters remain in the bag. Of course, one should memorize the scrabble dictionary (and have in mind lists of words such as 'all the words that begin with a 'q' without a 'u''). Memorizing the words is enough- there is no need to waste brain space memorizing meanings (although the movie helpfully defines some esoteric words the champs use for us). The key is to know one's anagrams- for example, that an anagram of 'San Diego' is 'diagnose!'

Of course, watching the movie won't make you into a scrabble superstar. If you wanted to be one, it may even turn you off, as the requirements seems to be obsession and an eccentric personality. But the movie is a must see for any scrabble fan- it is a fun and charming look at a great game and the quirky champions who not so much play the game but live it.

I watched this in a *packed* theater on a Tuesday night in the Haight (SF) before the DVD came out. It's great. I am a bit of a Scrabble junkie (played a few tournaments but not seriously) but have recommended it to others who aren't so into the game who still enjoyed the movie.

Marlon is a fascinating character. The prudish, self-righteous comments about him in other reviews are completely off target. The contrast between him and Tai Chi-doing / meditating Joe Edley (who, it turns out, can't perform when he's actually playing on the street rather than in the sterile environment of a tournament) adds so much to the movie.