PARK CITY -- A crowd-pleasing if calculated documentary about the professional Scrabble circuit, "Word Wars" will inevitably be compared to "Spellbound," though it was started before that film came out. Without a story that demands to be told, it lacks the urgency and significance of a great docu but still offers a diverting entertainment for a television audience. The action picks up six months before the National Scrabble Championship in San Diego as four disparate characters try to whip themselves into mental and physical shape.

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