Fresh
Chaikin and Petrillo have crafted an empathetic and revealing portrait of four men whose obsession is both a little bit sad and more than a little bit recognizable.
Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times
Word Wars
This Is NOT Your Grandmother's Game Of Scrabble.
2004 · 1h 20m · Unrated
Documentary
Directed by
Eric Chaikin
,
Julian Petrillo
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Word Wars
Overview
The classic board game, Scrabble, has been popular for decades. In addition, there are fanatics who devote heart and soul to this game to the expense of everything else. This film profiles a group of these enthusiasts as they converge for a Scrabble convention where the word game is almost a bloodsport.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
88%
Tomatometer
Rotten
There's a pronounced lack of emotional pay-off that likely will derail any attempts to position Word Wars as an aud-friendly crowd-pleaser with breakout potential comparable to Spellbound.
Joe Leydon, Variety
Fresh
The picture offers a funny but frequently sad portrait of four world-class gamesters in serious need of the $25,000 in prize money.
Kim Morgan, L.A. Weekly
Fresh
Compellingly watchable.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Fresh
The film fairly skips along as it introduces us to this strange world.
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times
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