Review – Wordplay

This is the third documentary I’ve seen recently about people obsessed with words. The key difference between this tale of a national crossword contest and the first two (targeting Scrabble and spelling bee folk) is that the subjects are portrayed as relatively normal people rather than monomaniacal nuts. Film-making techniques (particularly editing) might have had something to do with it. But another big factor seems to be the nature of crosswords themselves. Unlike board games and spelling contests, puzzles aren’t inherently competitive. The troubles adapting crosswords to a contest environment shows up in several points (particularly the ending). The overall impression is that the people who obsess over crosswords are a good deal different than their counterparts in other word game realms. The change is refreshing; this was a much more pleasant picture to watch than the other two. Mildly amusing