I really love these documentaries about people with weird obsessive hobbies or bizarre jobs - especially the ones about people that maybe never quite make it but just keep trying. This one's an absolute cracker because the half of the people featured in this film are just total A* fruit cakes. The scrabble itself it fairly interesting but it's much more entertaining watching these freaks battle their rampaging neurotic disorders. Yes dude, you just got SLAYED at the international championships because you didn't get acupuncture first to balance your chi. Nothing to do with it being a game of chance or anything. Seriously, who dedicates their life to a game that's half logic and half chance. Gotta love these lunatics. Great film

As a former tournament Scrabble player, this documentary was a delight to see. (I know and have played all four of the main subjects of the film.) People in that scene, especially at the top, are really that eccentric -- it's part of the allure of the tournament circuit, playing against people who are incredibly devoted to study and strategic analysis. The film accurately captures both the heart of the competitors as well as the frenetic energy that develops around trying to be the best. The documentary is informative beyond this one particular topic, in that way.As far as documentaries go, it's clearly a second-tier documentary film. (It's not a "Capturing the Friedmans", a "Fog of War", a "Startup.com".) However, if you have an interest in seeing mad geniuses at work or the game of Scrabble taken to an extreme, I recommend this film highly. (8+ out of 10)

This is one of the best documentaries I have seen in quite some time. At first I thought it was a mockumentary because it is so hilarious, but after talking with the director after (who also plays scrabble,) I know that these people are real and actually this hilarious. The people that the director follows are incredible in their own ways, from G.I. (gastrointestinal) Joel to a Tai-Chi Scrabble Master to a "badarse mothaf***a" (who lives with his mom,)... this film offers an insightful view into the competitive world of Scrabble and also the people who obsess over it and commit their lives to it (many are unemployed). This is definitely a 10. You should definitely check it out if you like "Waiting for Guffman".

This film is without a doubt the best Scrabble® Documentary film yet made. The story follows the efforts of four very different top-level Scrabble® players in their attempt to win the title of 2002 National Scrabble Champion. The directors highlight the disparate backgrounds and approaches to the game of the four principles, from the Tai Chi of 3 time champion Joe Edley to the mind-enhancing pharmaceuticals of Matt Graham. The film uses engaging graphics to explain how Scrabble® is played at the pro-level, and to highlight brilliant plays and anagrams. The audience gets a chance to "play along" with many plays of the main characters and many others on the tournament circuit. In addition, the story takes a foray into the subculture of "the parkies", the serious Scrabble®-playing denizens of Washington Square Park, NYC, and the history of the controversy that created the two dictionaries in use for Scrabble® today, one for the tournament players, and one for the general public.By focusing on the people and not history of the game, Word Wars shows the tournament Scrabble® scene at its most human.