Word Wars

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Word Wars

2004

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

88%

Tomatometer

34 Reviews

67%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

Critics Consensus

Fascinating look inside the world of competitive Scrabble.

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Kevin Crust

Los Angeles Times

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.

Rated: 3.5/5

Nov 4, 2004

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Joe Leydon

Variety

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.

Nov 4, 2004

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Compellingly watchable.

Rated: 3/4

Jul 23, 2004

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Christopher Null

Filmcritic.com

Rated: 3.5/5

Jan 19, 2006

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David Cornelius

eFilmCritic.com

Even with so much information lacking, Word Wars is still quite a treat.

Rated: 3/5

Mar 29, 2005

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E! Staff

E! Online

Mostly lighthearted, yet somewhat unnerving.

Rated: B

Nov 19, 2004

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Audience Member

cool character driven doc

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Audience Member

Wow. You can't make stuff like this up.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

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Audience Member

Who knew that somebody could make such an entertaining and energetic film about Scrabble! "Word Wars" tracks four Scrabble experts on their quest to compete in the 2002 National Scrabble Championship. It is interesting to see the type of person that becomes a competitive Scrabble player - and it probably is not what you are expecting! This film goes beyond the board to throw you into the world of people that are so dedicated to their craft that they sacrifice their career aspirations in order to memorize words for hours a day. This documentary is very interesting and I recommend it, but it is a shame that they couldn't have censored some of the language out of this otherwise clean film. One character in particular, Marlon Hill, is constantly dropping the f-bomb and after about 10 swear words (in the first 2 minutes that he was on screen), I realized that the directors have really limited their audience. The quirky characters are what make this film fun to watch but Marlon tends to be a little much. Regardless, this is a fascinating look into the world of competitive Scrabble and if there is a censored version out there, this is definitely worth checking out. One final warning: "Watching this film will not enhance your ability to play Words With Friends or to find anagrams in words."

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Audience Member

People from all walks of life play Scrabble.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

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Audience Member

A documentary about the Scrabble National Championships? Hell Yes!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

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Audience Member

Fascinating and strangely compelling. These Scrabble players are not normal.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

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Eric Chaikin

Director

Lynn Cushman

Actor

Jan Dixon

Actor

Rita Norr

Actor

Larry Sherman

Actor

Director: Eric Chaikin