World’s Greatest Dad (Movie Review)

Movie Review
World’s Greatest Dad
2009
Starring: Robin Williams
Directed by: Bobcat Goldthwait

For all the flack that a movie like Twilight gets for being a dud of a film, it at least has a bit of substance buried somewhere deep within it. You may have to dig around to find it, but it’s there. World’s Greatest Dad doesn’t have any substance. You can dig around as long as you want but you’ll eventually come to the conclusion that you’ve been digging around in fermented garbage. It’s a bad film and even though Bobcat Goldthwait isn’t some hack, he doesn’t give any proof that he’s isn’t one by writing and directing this putrid piece of nonsense.

Lance Clayton (Robin Williams) isn’t doing too well. He’s a single dad who has written several books but none of them have been published. His teenage son, Kyle (Daryl Sabara), is a disturbed outcast with very bizarre sexual fetishes. Lance’s job teaching poetry as an elective in high school is in jeopardy because nobody wants to take his class. The only shining light in his life is Claire (Alexis Gilmore), his girlfriend who also happens to work at the same school as Lance teaching art. However, Lance starts to get worried that Claire might be interested in Mike (Henry Simmons), another English teacher at their school who is younger, better looking, and more successful than Lance.

One evening, Lance comes home to find his son dead after suffocating from autoerotic asphyxiation while looking at pornography on the computer. Worried about what the world might think of Kyle in his state, Lance decides to make it look like a suicide. He does by writing a suicide note and propping Kyle’s body up to make it look like a suicide by hanging. Several weeks after the incident, Kyle’s suicide letter gets published by the school newspaper. After that, his legend goes from being a social outcast to being an inspiration to the entire student body. In turn, students begin to flock to Lance as he becomes willing to share “Kyle’s” journals; which are essentially written by Lance to give to everyone. As people begin to hold Kyle as a martyr and Lance in high regard, Lance himself begins to feel conflicted with the whole situation.

There’s dark humour and satire and then there’s this film. Some may like the film because of its edge but it really walks a fine line between brilliant comedy and utter stupidity. I find it didn’t even think about trying to be a brilliant comedy. I could get past the whole autoerotic asphyxiation subplot but most of the jokes are really lame. There were a couple of lines where I got a huge laugh from but for most of the film, I was rolling my eyes or shifting uncomfortably in my seat (which is saying something since I watched this film alone).

But comedy is an art that some may not appreciate. So maybe I’m not “with it” and the jokes are going over my head. That’s an acceptable argument. However, beyond the comedy, the film is still horribly made. It is very poorly written. How does a born-loser like Lance wind up with a beautiful woman like Claire? It makes no sense that he has the girl to start the movie (although she begins to slip away from him almost from the very beginning of the story). There are many other examples of things making absolutely no sense like students switching and dropping courses in the middle of a semester like its nothing (as evidenced by the rivalry between Lance and Mike). There are even things that are not physically possible like how Kyle is able to peek at his neighbour undressing through his window into hers despite the fact that they live side-to-side in a semi-detached unit. These developments are used to further the story but, in turn, makes the film lose credibility because these aren’t situations that can happen in real life. It’s gets to a point where this begins to be a tutorial on how not to make a film.

There are no redeeming qualities to World’s Greatest Dad. You could argue that the acting wasn’t bad or some of the jokes were funny but you can watch other movies for good acting and go see a stand-up set at the local comedy club to hear funny jokes. Bobcat Goldthwait made a horrible film (with an unbelievably ridiculous and nonsensical ending). I almost wish my rating scale would allow me to give a negative star rating.

☆