Wordplay

Friday night I violated my Legend of Zorro-induced vow to never again watch a movie without checking it out on rottentomatoes.com first. I think this play was justified in this case, because the film in question may be the ultimate “Logomanikos” movie: Wordplay. In case you missed it, Wordplay is the 2006 documentary about Will Shortz (editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle) and whole world of crossword fanaticism. For the uninitiated, the Times is considered the gold standard of crosswords. The Monday puzzle is fairly straightforward and then they get harder each day of the week. When I taught at the Naval Academy Prep school, we used to receive the NYT digest by email, and doing the crossword was a common (though not quite daily) ritual for me. I could crank through Monday pretty fast; Wednesday was just about right for me - challenging but doable. Friday was diabolical. I don’t know if I ever finished one.

Anyway, Wordplay was a wonderfully endearing look at crossword puzzles, the people who make them, people who do them (such as Ken Burns, Bill Clinton, Indigo Girls), and especially the people who are obsessed with doing them insanely quickly. We watched a guy finish a whole puzzle in under two minutes and ten seconds. (He’s never broken two minutes, he laments.) And yes, there is a crossword puzzle tournament scene. In many ways it’s like the Scrabble tournament scene, of which I’ve taken part in the past and plan to rejoin someday when I’m back in North America. Similarities abound: the folders full of notes and hints everyone carried through the hotel ballroom, the commiserating during the breaks of mistakes made during the previous round, the lighthearted atmosphere belying the ferocious intensity of the competition, the careful monitoring of opponents’ progress, the fact that at the expert level men seem to outnumber women about eight to one, despite overall equality throughout the whole room. (Are men just more easily obsessed at a trivial recreational pursuit?) As the movie covered the Stamford, CT, National Crossword Championship, I felt so at home from my Scrabble days

[Mild spoiler alert for this paragraph] But the most pervasive likeness with the Scrabble world is simply the existence of this diverse array of people from all walks of like who share this quirky - yes geeky - hobby that outsiders don’t quite get, and hence delight in coming together to play. Old friends greet each other warmly; new friendships are quickly made because of the instant connection of this shared interest and its specialized base of knowledge. When one contestant comments that returning to Stamford each year is for these men and women like “finding their lost tribe,” a chord resonates deep within the viewer: a connection with something far deeper than a black and white grid of numbered squares. It is a picture of the fulfillment of what I think is one of the deepest needs we have as people: community. This film captured the camaraderie of this gathering perfectly. The genius of Wordplay is not simply making this world interesting, but making you care about these people and how they did in the tournament. I was already thoroughly enjoying this movie when about an hour and quarter in, an unexpected twist jolted me from the realm of entertainment to sublime empathy. I sat there thinking, “I cannot possibly be getting choked up about this middle-aged guy losing a crossword puzzle tournament!” But I was. And an hour later as Shannon and I talked about it, I was choked up again! And the next morning, I felt deeply satisfied reflecting on this little celluloid slice of life. Because ultimately, the movie is not about crossword puzzles; it’s about people and passion, and one need not be a hopeless logomanic to completely identify. At least I think so. If you aren’t a word freak yourself, you’ll have to watch it and let me know.

Tonight, not surprisingly, I discovered this film would have passed my RottenTomatoes filter anyway. Wordplay scored an extremely high 95%, which makes me feel a little less dorky for saying it’s the best movie I’ve seen in at least six months.