World's Greatest Dad (Bobcat Goldthwait, 2009)

[domino harvey]

2. World's Greatest Dad - Bobcat Goldthwait's third film as a feature director proves the third time is a charm in this hilariously morbid comedy-drama. This may be the most honest movie about high school since Election.

I almost made a thread about this film a few weeks ago. I haven't seen it yet but everything I've heard about it makes it sound amazing

[flyonthewall2983]

I'll say this much, it's definitely worthy of a thread here.

[Cosmic Bus]

I thought Dad was hugely disappointing; about one third of a great movie, with a completely bland, toothless remainder only buoyed by a two strong supporting performances.

[Grand Illusion]

I loved World's Greatest Dad. The end was a little facile, but the whole film made me squirm more than I can ever remember. I laughed a lot too.

[mfunk9786]

When I saw the title, I immediately confused it with this and thought "What the fuck? Can everything I think I know possibly be wrong?"

[mfunk9786]

Watched this tonight. I absolutely couldn't believe how true-to-life the script and the performances were, and my heart ached for Robin Williams' character even at his worst. There were a few pitch-perfect performances here, most of all by Daryl Sabara as the absolute worst son imaginable and a wonderful supporting role by Henry Simmons as a fellow teacher - one of the best scenes is early in the film, where he is showing off his New Yorker article and puts on a brilliant display of false modesty while Williams seems to be boiling over with false modesty. The unadvertised twist comes suddenly, and it's difficult to imagine it playing out with more class considering the subject matter. And everything after that, well, I can't even comment on here since it'd spoil the film.

I will say, I am so so glad I didn't turn out like Sabara's character, as I'm afraid that more young men are during this age of internet porn than anyone would care to admit. His is the most fascinating character in the film, someone who's almost spoiled by default because he is surrounded by gratification where and when he wants it. There's not much that his father could have done to prevent his son's doomed personality that wouldn't have seemed downright puritanical in this day and age. Certainly depressing to think about, but I've certainly met teenage males with this capacity for cold-blooded abrasiveness, and it's only going to get easier for these traits to emerge in young men as time goes on.

The most darkly funny movie I've seen this year, up there with Observe and Report in that realm. Side note: is there any more beautiful and charming [hopefully] emerging actress than Alexie Gilmore working today? She's given a bit of a thankless role here, but I'm looking forward to seeing more of her.

Great film, seek this one out.

[oldsheperd]

I wanted to see this since I saw the preview. Unfortunately putting stuff like Transformers 2 on more than one screen was a priority and no theaters carried this except for the local arthouse which had for one week. Same thing with Big Fan. I wanted to see that but it was here for one week at the local arthouse cinema.
Goldthwait has a pretty unique touch at handling absurd subjects but with an endearing quality. I was absolutely blown away how he handled Sleeping Dogs Lie with such sincerity. A less apt screenwriter/filmmaker would have just tried to rest on the idea of a woman...well I won't spoil anything....and just play off that idea for as many laughs as possible.

[eljacko]

I finished this film about a half an hour ago and I'm still figuring out my thoughts on it, but I'm fairly certain I won't be getting it out of my head anytime soon. Definitely agree regarding the Sabara character, although I am fairly certain most people of this generation will exhibit some of his characteristics.

Spoiler

What was positively terrifying for me, though, was the scene after his death, when all the students read the suicide note and are affected by it - but only the Robin Williams character is actually affected by his son's death, as the realization that he distorted his son's personality hits him, and then we see his first wave of guilt as the students try to comfort him (for all the wrong reasons). I think a lot of scenes that take place after this would have been funnier for me had I not been watching it alone and had a friend with me to laugh with. Instead, I just felt sad and uncomfortable - maybe I identified too much with Willam's character? I was just waiting through the whole film for the lie he had constructed to blow up in his face.

I guess the ending is great for him, since he's free of the "loneliness" as he put it, but I do wonder how the film would have turned out if he had just maintained the lie, became famous, but hated himself for it. I mean, he was actually helping depressed kids with the fake journal! Not sure which I would've liked more.

[LQ]

I finally watched this last night. While I didn't think it was a bad film per se, it just wasn't for me. The dissonance between the tone of the film and the subject matter with which it dealt just didn't jibe with my sensibilities...I think I would've appreciated it more had it been an appropriately bleak drama. I agree that the first part, before the twist, was incredibly (and uncomfortably) realistic but everything, all the callous nastiness, that occured after the twist was dripping with such exaggerated satire that the film lost it's hold on me.

I still think it had worthwhile ideas and fantastic performances but I won't be watching it again any time soon, let's put it that way.

[domino harvey]

World's Greatest Dad, like Julie and Julia has a great deal to say about the need for hero worship. But whereas the Ephron film pushed the virtues of building up a real person into a fictional completion of your lackings, Goldthwait is less convinced. Here is a picture that ferociously tears into the human tendency to apply a varnish of wish fulfillment to the most convenient object handy. Naturally the only characters incapable of turning Williams' rotten kid into a personal saint are the only two who actually knew him-- surely the funniest "ghost" is the one suspiciously envisioned by his only friend, that of a beret wearing artnik? (The whole ghost thing is really quite a virtuoso sequence, distilling the entire film down in two minutes)

Spoiler

The film already works on an interesting idea for most of its length, but it's that finish that really makes it worth looking closely at. Because I think Williams' admission at the end paints him as an even sadder, more tragic figure than the satiric target he'd seemed for most of the length. Because it's not exactly integrity that drove him to make the announcement, nor is it any real fear of being caught. The overwhelming number of people building up his loser son finally becomes too much to bear and he has to set the record straight on what a dick he was. It's petty and retributive, but in return he essentially gets the one thing his lies didn't afford him: a new son that he doesn't have to create. All the straw longings he had held up as being necessary for his happiness: Success, popularity, a hot girl on his arm, &c, all prove unfulfilling and empty. They are all a product of fiction and thus become fiction too. It's his seemingly shortsighted act of truthfulness that grants him a tangible reality.

Is the ending still a little frustrating? Well, yeah, but what does that say about the viewer?

[Lemmy Caution]

What bothered me was:

Spoiler

I couldn't believe a father would have such a shallow impression of his (dead) son. He calls his son a douchebag? Sorry, but wouldn't he have memories of his son as an innocent kid growing up to offset a few years of difficult adolescent behavior? And, especially since Dad's a high school teacher, wouldn't he understand the notion of phases that teenagers go through and grow out of? In any case, parents are great at inventing excuses for their kids and only a pretty cruddy one would be so dismissive. I just thought it was shallow and idiotic (and repulsive) that he would view his son as the other kids who didn't like him did. One can try to rationalize it as some sort of over-reaction to his fraudulent lauding of his son, but the film really lost me with that climactic scene of revelation. Maybe there's a new trend afoot, as A Chrstmas Tale also dealt with a parent and adult child who didn't much care for each other.

Anyway, I thought there was a good premise here, but didn't like the way it played out.

[mfunk9786]

Did it really seem to you that what we saw and heard was difficult adolescent behavior that his son would grow out of?

[domino harvey]

At best the biggest tragedy of his son's passing was that the Something Awful forums lost a future moderator. I don't think Williams was overly callous at all (his initial act of cover-up was one of giving his son the dignity he couldn't afford himself, remember) and his feelings for his departed son were sane: You can definitely possess familial love for someone and still not like them-- talk to the adult children of abusive parents for corroboration on this

[mfunk9786]

The sex offender registry lost itself a red dot on a map, too. But I guess that and moderating SA go hand in hand.

[Lemmy Caution]

Did it really seem to you that what we saw and heard was difficult adolescent behavior that his son would grow out of?

Well, we only get a limited glimpse of his current behavior/personality. But Yes, I wouldn't expect the kid to make anal references his whole life or become a chronic masturbator. And yes, it did seem to me like a difficult awkward stage of troubled self-absorption.
I just wouldn't expect his father to view/judge him as we do, based solely on his current teenage self, no. That struck me as a real false note for dramatic purposes, and lost all my sympathy for Dad. I'm not surprised if it worked for others, but it resulted in a huge nasty clang for me.

[Caged Horse]

Could've been worse: the kid could've been addicted to 'furry' websites.