World's Greatest Dad Review [2]

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 12.03.2009

Forget Old Dogs, this is the Robin Williams movie you need to see this year.

World’s Greatest Dad

Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait
Written by Bobcat Goldthwait

Cast
Robin Williams ... Lance Clayton
Alexie Gilmore ... Claire
Daryl Sabara ... Kyle
Michael Thomas Moore ... Chris
Jermaine Williams ... Jason
Evan Martin ... Andrew




Kyle is a moron. There is really no other way to put it. He is a high school student that everyone finds to be weird. His father is appalled when he catches him jacking off to porn, while wrapping a rope around his neck in an act of erotic asphyxiation. His principal wants to transfer him to a school for kids with special needs. His best friend thinks he is disgusting when he talks about porn involving defecation and anal sex. There is a point early in the movie where he is being beaten up by another student for telling a girl passing by that her “vagina won’t get eaten on its own.” While the kid beats him up, Kyle calls him a jock even though this kid doesn’t play sports at all. Kyle exclaims that he hates music, which is for fags, and hates movies, which are for art house dorks.

Lance is a teacher of poetry at the high school and doesn’t know how to deal with his son’s eccentricities. He is slowly realizing his son is not eccentric but is instead, as he points out later in the movie, a giant douche. Lance is having a secret relationship with another teacher, although it is clear she also has an attraction to the school’s creative writing teacher. Lance is at his wits end on what to do with his son when the movie takes a strange turn. Kyle dies during another act of erotic asphyxiation, devastating his father who, in a turn of shame, moves the body to make it look like a suicide.

Lance then forges a suicide note which ends up getting released to the school, making Kyle, someone no one liked, a hero and role model to all the kids. Lance adds on to the lies by writing a fake journal, claiming it is Kyle’s and soon his life is turned completely upside down.

Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, World’s Greatest Dad is a movie I never thought the comedian would ever have directed. His previous effort, Sleeping Dogs Lie is better known as the movie where the chick gets it on with a dog. With World’s Greatest Dad, Goldthwait has officially arrived. It is a black comedy in every sense of the word. The movie takes a cold, hard look at the fake heartfelt tributes people leave after someone they barely know dies. It happens all the time when a young student dies tragically early and everyone crawls out of the woodwork claiming to be a close friend and mourning his death like they were the best of friends.

What makes this satire work so well is Daryl Sabara’s performance as Kyle. He is an absolutely disgusting person. He sickens his best friend Andrew and picks fights with other students at the drop of a hat. There is a goth girl he calls a whore that comes out and leads the pack mourning his death. A football player who routinely beat him up decides to come out of the closet thanks to the strength of Kyle after reading his suicide note.

The other strong point of the movie is Robin Williams. I have always been more interested in his darker roles than his comedic ones. Give me Insomnia or Death to Smoochy any day of the week over feel good claptrap like Patch Adams. Williams has been choosing more and more of the darker type roles over the years and I couldn’t be happier. The entire backbone of this movie is Williams’ despair in his life. He is unhappy, a failed novelist in a doomed relationship. His son is horrible and when he dies, Williams uses the situation to finally achieve his dreams. It’s too bad his character is too good of a person to allow him to bask in his newfound glory for long.

It is hypocrisy at its finest and Goldthwait holds nothing back until the end.

Lance becomes so overcome with guilt, he finally breaks down. The ending is somewhat disappointing for this film, as a darker end might have been more in line here. The end is almost too hopeful. I like to see happy endings but this is a movie where one is not deserved. I commend Goldthwait for not giving it a completely happy ending but feel he might have been pressured to add a slightly more positive one for the studio. There is always the fact you get to see Robin Williams’ naked, full frontal, to fuel your dark comedic desires.

The 411: World’s Greatest Dad is a wonderfully funny, black comedy from the man who last brought us bestiality. Goldthwait has come a long ways since his days as a supporting character in Police Academy movies and has a solid, deft touch as a director, both with his pacing and his shot selection. He has crafted a movie that hits all the right notes, helped by great turns by both Robin Williams and Daryl Sabara. This is an adult comedy and is as black as it gets but everyone is on their best form here. Forget Old Dogs. If you want to see a good Robin Williams movie, watch this one.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]