Word Wars

Similar in style to King of Kong and Spellbound, but this one falls short of what those films achieved. Would have been better if they chose one player, expanded on that person's life, followed him through the tournament circuit, and gave you someone to root for. It just needed to be a lot tighter, rather than a general overview of the Scrabble tournaments and the type of people who compete. Didn't give me a reason to care, didn't build up suspense, and ultimately was kind of boring.

Another entry in the surprisingly fertile "Laugh at the smart people and the games they enjoy" genre that falls on the lower half of the spectrum simply because of the narrative that we haven't seen a zillion times before. The filmmakers follow the lives of four ultra Scrabblers (no idea if this is what they're called or not) before and during a San Diego tourney, but there's no suspense to be found (not that we're given reason to care)and the most interesting aspects are not fleshed out enough.

A reasonably interesting topic, but the film focuses on a few players and a single tournament. I would have liked it to build a narrative around a single person (like "King of Kong") or give a broader overview of the scrabble world. Walking the line between the two wasn't quite satisfying to me.

Interesting subject, and fascinating characters. Still it falls a bit short on the subject.

If the prospect of building a documentary around playing Scrabble sounds a bit dull, then you’re right, but the problem with this film is that it never finds a “way in” to make the material compelling – there’s the potential for interest in studying the root causes of obsessive fixation, or at least a depiction of the high stakes rivalry that no doubt exists in the Scrabble world; while these are touched on, they are never milked for drama or interest, leaving the film feeling somewhat inert.

Absolutely fantastic documentary about eccentric Scrabble enthusiasts and the destructive qualities of addiction. Heavily recommended.

Not as enjoyable as the other recent documentaries on words and games (Wordplay, Spellbound, The King of Kong), but having seen all of them before seeing Word Wars likely played a part.

Even my obsession with Scrabble does not make this documentary any less unevent, poorly edited, and watchable. Some things are meant to be the subject of documentaries. Board games probably are not one of them, even if there's a few characters out there who devote their lives to them.

https://esperwatchesfilms.tumblr.com/post/651104252705587201/word-wars-2004

The four main characters are all interesting and worthy of a documentary. Sadly, the filmmakers turned out an amateur product. Worth the watch just to meet these interesting folks, particularly Marlon.

At first glance, this might seem an awful lot like the crossword documentary, Wordplay. But in essence it's closer to Cinemania. These guys aren't so much fascinated with wordplay as they are simply obsessive misfits. They're somewhat unlikeable people, and there's really no one worth rooting for. Still, they have some interesting traits, and there some fairly compelling drama (for example, the relationship between Matt and Marlon). Not a great movie by any means, but fun for fans of the game.

Seems exploitative at first glance, but exploitation is very much a two-way street, and the main characters here are always eager to get into character. Scrabble tournaments aren't really the bughouses you'd expect from watching this, but the throngs of blue-haired retirees and computer programmers that populate these things are too mundane to base a movie around.

Interesting as a study of obsessiveness. None of these people is presented in a very flattering light, but each of them is interesting. It's hard to imagine being so far gone into something that you study lists of words while driving, or ignore the stress that makes you need to constantly swig antacids just to keep going. The palpable dislike between two of these guys is only thrown into sharper relief when you realize they keep sharing hotel rooms out of economic necessity.

A documentary about competitive Scrabble players. Aside from the graphics used, it was made really well. The 4 people they showcased were all really interesting people and shows that really anyone can be good at Scrabble. Fans of the board game should definitely check it out.