Documentaries can get an unfair reputation as dry and boring. So can spelling bees.

So, therefore, a documentary on a spelling bee would be as boring as watching your linoleum floor curl up on a hot summer day.

But that's not the case with this particular documentary.

Nominated for an Oscar, "Spellbound" is a 2002 documentary about eight teens who are competing in the 1999 Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. The teenagers are picked from different parts of the nation - from Texas to New Jersey.

The filmmakers interview the teens, their families and teachers. The interviews reveal much about how the children prepare for competition and how much spelling is a part of their life.

Besides being from different states, the children all seem to represent different ethnic and economic groups. The filmmakers seemed to want to capture everyone from a rural family living on a small cattle ranch in Texas to an upper-class family from India living in California.

Before the end of the film, which announces the winner, several interviews are conducted with past winners of the spelling bee. Winners from the first competition in 1925 and from 1981 were interviewed. They talked about the subsequent media that followed them around and how the fame changed their life.

The subject of the movie - spelling - is far from being sexy, but the payoff is worth it. The lengths these kids go to range from the funny to the just plain dark and demented. The parents of these kids sometimes are like the pushy parents of sports kids. They push their children to want to be the best and set high goals they must accomplish.

Meanwhile, other parents in the film aren't as smart as their children. Their own lack of education is obvious when they sit down to talk about just how much they support their kids.

And while the children all seem to have different lives, they all seem to be social outcasts because of their participation in the contest. The filmmakers never interview any of their friends. Instead, these teens talk about how they spend eight to nine hours by themselves studying. One parent even remarks on how her child is considered a nerd in their hometown, but at the competition, everyone seems to get along well and children seem to be on the same level with each other.

The style of this movie isn't anything special. Some of it looks as if it were filmed using a simple camcorder. But what sets the film apart from others is the unique subject matter.

Probably the funniest part of the movie is Alex Cameron, the announcer of the spelling bee. Cameron seriously looks into the camera and tells about how people constantly recognize him on the street and how he is treated as a celebrity. You'd have to be made of stone not to laugh at his ego.

"Spellbound" is an innovative movie. This offbeat flick deserves an audience. Audience, a-u-d-i-e-n-c-e.