World’s Greatest Dad – Review

If a producer was to be smart, he or she would give some money to Bobcat Goldwait, walk away, and let Bobcat go on and make his film, come back and say thank you, because that producer would have a great little film on their hands, and financial profitability notwithstanding, a perfect anti-Apatow comedy to be released into the world. Bobcat is making dark comedies, that are in the anti-Apatow style, one that has clearly dominated this genre for the last few years. Bobcat’s films are sick, yet funny, done with great care and great humor. Bobcat is making films about scenarios that aren’t teen comedies or coming-of-age stories, but perverse little gems about things that are talked about in between a close circle of friends, and the friends laugh, but yet remark on how incredibly screwed up that story is.

Case in point, World’s Greatest Dad.

Robin Williams stars as a hapless dad, Lance, to a son, Kyle, who is a mean, sex obsessed reject. Lance is also a would-be novelist, except his stories are never published. Even his super sweet and hot girlfriend, might be having an affair, with a fellow colleague. Nothing is going right it seems, but he tries. His son is so into obscenely dirty sex acts, that he cannot conceive of doing something normal like going to the movies with his dad. This back fires, as he dies from autoerotic asphyxiation. To cover up the shame, Lance stages his son’s death as a suicide, even going as far as to write a suicide note. This seems to work, this cover up, for a time, until someone prints the suicide note. Suddenly, through his dead son, Lance is a ghost writer to his “brilliant” son, as Kyle is championed as a new voice amongst teenagers.

Yeah, I know it’s weird and odd, but it works. Obviously, the autoerotic asphyxiation is a timely subject since David Carradine supposedly died from such an act, but it isn’t the topic many discuss on a daily basis. That’s a key reason why World’s Greatest Dad is so refreshing. It’s different, it’s kooky, it’s so dark, yet funny, it’s amazing it even got made. I’m glad it did, because, while a lesser hand would have made this into a cheap laugh and failed miserably, Bobcat is a fine writer, appropriately handling the material with a sharp eye for satire as well as sensitivity.

If you blush easily, this material isn’t for you, but if you knew of Bobcat’s last film, Sleeping Dogs Lie, a film about a relationship issues due to a past college sexual encounter with a dog, then maybe this material is easier to handle. Bobcat is crafting himself into a comedic filmmaker that is counter-culture to what is being popularized today. World’s Greatest Dad isn’t a masterpiece of comedy, but it’s a perverse ode to that bar talk we all seem to be a part of, but will never admit to.

Rating: