That Movie Site :: Wordplay (2006)

The Lake House (2006)

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WORDPLAY

Reviewed by Heather Picker

Wordplay is a pleasant documentary with a kind of hazy focus. Once the opening song is (finally) out of the way, we are introduced to Will Shortz, the crossword puzzle editor of The New York Times (and NPR's resident Puzzlemaster). Shortz discusses his lifelong interest in crossword puzzles – he's been making them since he was 8 or 9, and sold his first at the age of 14. He attended Indiana University, where students can create their own majors, and explains, "I found this old-fashioned word called 'enigmatology' that was in the unabridged dictionaries, and I convinced the people that puzzles were a serious field of academic inquiry." He believed a career in puzzles would probably mean a lifetime of poverty, but it was a trade-off he was willing to make to follow his passion.

Shortz found himself at the Times in 1993, and brought to his position a philosophy about the scope of crossword puzzles – "My feeling was crosswords should have everything that's being covered in the Times" – that brought new life to puzzling. But Wordplay, it turns out, is not as much about Shortz, whose obsession is interesting enough to fill its own documentary, as the community he created when he founded the Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in 1978.

Director Patrick Creadon, in between fluffy interviews with famous puzzlers like Ken Burns, Bill Clinton, the Indigo Girls, and Jon Stewart (who calls Shortz "the Errol Flynn of crossword puzzling"), and more substantive chats with famed puzzle constructor Merl Reagle, profiles a handful of prominent competitors. There is Al Sanders, a Hewlett-Packard project manager and devoted father who tries to keep a sense of humor about consistently placing in the top three without ever winning the tournament. There is Ellen Ripstein, a self-professed nerd (and baton twirler) who was the Susan Lucci of the tournament for 18 years in a row, eventually making the front page of the Wall Street Journal and drawing national television exposure before finding herself in a tense 2001 championship showdown that ended with a commentator remarking, "Hollywood couldn't have scripted a better finish." There is Jon Delfin, a musician and 7-time tournament champion, called "the greatest puzzler of our time" by former New York Times public editor Daniel Okrent, a puzzlehead himself. Trip Payne, another feared competitor, was so immersed in the crossword world in New York that he moved to Fort Lauderdale to escape it. (But old habits die hard, and he says of a date with his boyfriend in Florida: "I remember the first time we went by someplace that had the word 'intercoastal' on it. I pointed out that that was an anagram of the word 'altercations.' Um, it's nice being with somebody who can appreciate that.") Payne set a record for the youngest winner at the age of 24, but Tyler Hinman, a 20-year-old IT student who is relatively new to the puzzle scene, is determined to best him.

This ragtag assemblage of quirky personalities who share an all-consuming interest makes Wordplay similar to Cinemania and Word Wars, and comparisons to Spellbound, the wildly overrated 2003 documentary about eight children competing in the National Spelling Bee, are inevitable. The good news is Wordplay isn't as precious as Spellbound. The bad news is it doesn't bring anything new to the table. And so we trudge through the tournament, which takes place over a single weekend, until three finalists (who won't be named here) battle it out on a stage that is set up so the camera can take in all the action at once. Creadon does an admirable job of building suspense when it counts, and it all comes down to a forgotten "Z." When that fatal mistake is made, headphones – the contestants must wear them to drown out the crowd – are hurled in anger, providing the first genuine spark of the movie. It's like every sports flick that culminates in a pivotal shot or swing, but for dorks. And Creadon, with his talent show footage (!) and interviews with longtime puzzlers like former champion Miriam Raphael, who attends the event year after year to catch up with old friends, wants you to know the tournament is about more than competition. But he just sort of leaves it at that.

About the DVD: Wordplay comes to DVD this week courtesy of Genius Products and IFC, and is loaded with special features. There are twenty minutes or so of deleted scenes – mostly interview footage that Creadon was right to scrap from the film, plus more scenes from Stamford – and featurettes about five of the most memorable puzzles to be published in the Times, including interviews with the constructors and insightful commentary by Merl Reagle. (The most interesting is about Manny Nosowsky's puzzle with only 19 black squares.) There is also a 20 minute "Wordplay Goes to Sundance" featurette that includes the post-screening Q&A with Creadon, Shortz and the puzzlers; the short film "Waiting for The New York Times," directed by Patricia Erens; a gallery that provides direct access to the celebrity interviews; "Every Word" music video by Gary Louris; a photo gallery; a short clip revealing the winner of Stamford 2006; and five printable puzzles you can access on your computer. The main attraction is an audio commentary by Creadon, Shortz and Reagle, who look back fondly on the making of the film and joke with each other throughout.

Related Reading: Wordplay: The Official Companion Book. And don't forget the Zola.

Directed by Patrick Creadon. Written by Creadon and Christine O'Malley. 2006, 94 min., Rated PG (for some language and mild thematic elements).

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