Review of World's Greatest Dad (2009) by Jack S — 30 Aug 2010

There are funny movies, and then there are movies like this, movies that are funny and sad at the same time. It's not going to provoke a riot of laughter, but you will get out a few chuckles. "World's Greatest Dad" is also a movie of conflicting emotions. It doesn't take itself too seriously, but it's serious enough to fall off the comedy shelf.

Robin Williams stars as high school poetry teacher Lance Clayton. He has little going for him in his life aside from a prospective girlfriend (Alexie Gilmore), who wants to keep the relationship secret and physical like an affair. Lance is also a novelist who has yet to be published. His son, Kyle Clayton, is vulgar and rude, addicted to German poop porn, and is not nice to anyone. He treats his father like garbage. But Lance still loves him unconditionally and tries to be a good dad. Kyle unwittingly commits suicide by strangling himself to death while masturbating. Lance is horrified and embarrassed and tries to make it look like a hanging, going so far as to write a fake suicide note in Kyle's stead.

The comedy and the conflict: Kyle's "suicide note" gets accidentally leaked to the press and takes off as a posthumous work of brilliance. People everywhere love how deep and tormented the author sounds. A cult forms, and some want it published as a book. Lance wonders if he should reap the rewards of something he himself wrote, albeit under false pretenses. This is his first real chance at exposure, recognition, and success. But how much is a lie worth?

For this movie, "World's Greatest Dad" would seem sometimes like an ironic title, but the character Williams plays is a genuinely good person and a genuinely good father. He struggles with the decision and shows he has a conscience, but he's been waiting for success for thirty-plus years that it's too good to pass up. Oh, sure, there're people who try to see the holes in Lance's story of Kyle's death, like Kyle's friend Andrew, but the decision comes down to Lance, up until the last minute. Ultimately this movie is about morality.

Williams's performance is solid and convincing. We want his character to win out in the end, but we also want everything to be okay too. That's the line that the movie draws: what's more importantâ??being happy, or the truth?

My only real criticism is the soundtrack. There's an overuse of song lyrics in this movie. Sometimes it's fitting, other times it's distracting. I'd be curious to see how different this movie would have been with a completely instrumental score instead of a playlist of famous songs every two minutes.

"World's Greatest Dad" gets a very good 3 out of 5. See it at least once.