Review of World's Greatest Dad (2009) by Brandon H — 10 Apr 2011

"World's Greatest Dad" is billed as a comedy, but I'm not sure why. It's a drama that, like many fine dramas, uses occasional funny moments to keep its audiences from finding humor in the wrong places.

It's not a brilliant or a complex movie by any means, but at least I can't say I've seen this central plot before. Robin Williams plays the father of one of the least likable characters in all of cinema, who thankfully kills himself accidentally while masturbating about 1/3 of the way through the movie. This is the inciting incident.

Now the father, a struggling writer, takes advantage of this opportunity and writes from the narrative stance of his dead son. Only he markets it like it's actually his son's writing, not his own fictional interpretation. So clearly this leads him into some trouble.

In the first third of the film, the callous, abrasive son causes the tension. In the latter parts, the impending discovery of the father's manipulative acts is what causes the tension. He's meanwhile juggling a relationship with a woman who, it eventually becomes clear, is rather immature and selfish. His relationships with not only the woman but his friends at his school reveal his view of himself. He thinks he's worthless, weak. And as we hear the words from the journal he wrote on behalf of his son, we realize he's not only faking someone else's voice, he's projecting his own sadness.

The movie has depth in this sense, then, but it's not necessarily surprising on a deep level. We still see all the characters for who they are, and they're not necessarily drawn with much care. Even our protagonist, who is played well by Robin Williams, isn't hugely interesting. He borders on too inactive to be a protagonist for the first parts, but of course, upon changing the entire scope of his son's suicide and reaching many people, he serves just fine as the central character in the end.

My major problem comes from how the ending handles the release of tension. I don't know that there had to be the "reveal" scene in this case. He's shown as deeply affecting a number of people in a positive way by faking his son's suicide note and journal. He's right about to get away with it, and then he makes the announcement. Why? What does this serve? We assume it's a personal release of guilt. But he loses almost everything by this transaction. Did it really take the public reveal to give up on the crazy lady girlfriend? Could our smart protagonist not recognize her shallow nature beforehand? She makes him late to a TV show appearance (this is a man not used to TV appearances; it's a big deal) because she's changing clothes too many times. Then when they reach the TV show, she has the audacity to ask the producer: "when will I know the camera is on me?" Really?

So parts of the movie, particularly the ending, don't really add up. It's a long way from greatness. It's perhaps too simplistic, too dramatically scripted to be great. But I've never met a movie character quite like Kyle, and it's rare to see Robin Williams take a role so seriously. That alone is reason to rent (for free on Netflix, anyway) "World's Greatest Dad.".