Adult movies about spelling bees - one had to arrive in a format that made it accessible and visible outside the current dominant demographic of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Renaming it the "Scribbs" event didn't even fool this Caucasian Australian.
First of all, don't be fooled into thinking this is a kid's film just because it opens with our Scribbs National Champ on her victorious media tour, including a starring turn standing next to Levar Burton (Australian Trekkies have been denied regular access to Levar's reading & educational career post TNG). The adult orientation kicks in pretty quick.
The story of someone who had super-early super-success - essentially peaking before they turn 10 - is familiar to quite a few of us. Definition Please works through the strain this kind of prodigious early start places not only on the performer, but also in those close to them. Mixing in family crises with the ongoing search for self-acceptance makes this a film that is entirely relatable, even if you've never been past the local rounds of a school spelling/maths/writing/poetry/art/music (anything but sport, essentially) competition.
It's a film for us oddballs, use weirdos who ran for school council, went to those regional education seminars, had meetings with the school principal that didn't involve your parents *nor* discipline.
