World's Greatest Dad | Eastern North Carolina Now

   Publisher's note: As redundant as a pacing lost soul, I am loathe to admit, Wyatt is probably our most read writer. Just a few nights ago, March 12, 2012, I was perusing our sister publication, Better Angels Now, and I noticed that so many of Wyatt's reviews, of the many fine films that occupy the public's interest, have not been availed to our readers through our Beaufort County Now publication.

    Consequently, over the next many weeks, we will endeavor to remedy this mild injustice by publishing these reviews, in our current improved format, for your edification. Here below is our eighth in a series of these older articles of interest by our good friend, Wyatt Sanderman Day.

    
Blacker than a Dirty Lump of Coal

    Some folks like their coffee blonde and sweet, but their comedy black. If you are one of that rare breed, you will probably get quite a few belly laughs from the directorial sophomoric effort of Bobcat Goldthwait: "World's Greatest Dad." The film is so down and dirty, and so awfully dark, you have to wonder, by the end of the film, is Goldthwait without one shred of moral integrity, or just one funny guy, with the big bongs to test the bounds of what is acceptable satire, or just how much shock can decent folks handle?

    What shred of decency that I, on occasion, possess must have taken the night off because I liked the film and found it uncomfortably funny.

    Just how black is the film? The film's protagonist, Kyle Clayton, played by former "Spy Kid" Daryl Sabara asphyxiates himself while seeking self-gratification, in an auto-erotic posture, while looking at neo-erotic pictures (shot by his camera phone) of his father's sometime, hot / cold lady-friend, Claire played by Alexie Gilmore.

    Now here is where it really gets weird and blacker than a cloudy midnight on Halloween. The boy's middle-aged, single father, Lance Clayton, played by Robin Williams, makes the accidental "Darwin Club" death appear like a suicide and fakes a suicide note to lend legitimacy to the better death - if by mere degrees.
Lance's son, Kyle, played by Daryl Sabara, is probably in the running for the weirdest movie kid of all time: Above and below.

    Lance teaches poetry in the same high school that his son Kyle attended, and is an amateur author, wishing to one day write the great American novel. When he composes the "last communication" of his self-asphyxiated son, he cannot divorce himself from his aspiring talent as a wordsmith. To make matters worse, in this time of profound grief, "his" suicide note is lifted from the public record, by some anonymous reporter /student, and reprinted in the school newspaper.
The frustrated father, teacher and novelist, Lance, Robin Williams, just wanted the respect of his peers and the love of a good woman, Morgan, played by Morgan Murphy: Above. Would it ever come to pass? Lance, Robin Williams finds his "15 minutes of fame" quite unsettling as he becomes estranged from reality: Below.

    Now here's the stinger: The school's students and faculty read the profoundly deep and moving note, and begin to see his son in a very different light. Since Kyle is gone for good, these people transfer much of their previous unrecognized grief and later, their admiration of Kyle, to the father. The mood of the plot begins to darken when the sincerely grief stricken father begins to live vicariously through the newfound popularity of his "so misunderstood" son, using these peoples' misplaced respect of the boy to bask in the praises of his son's faked literary talent, and to get laid on a very regular basis. Lady-friend Claire is somewhat shallow.

    Terrible behavior right? Now here is where the film succeeds: It used the first 30 minutes of the film to present Kyle, and his relationship with his suffering father and everyone else that unfortunately knows the kid, as a true asshole (I do not use this word often and when I do, I mean it). As you have probably surmised, Kyle is a pervert. The kid is so obsessed with the depths of depravity that he actually gives pornography, by comparison, a bad name. The kid is an asshole.
Lance, Robin Williams, proves that is "no picnic" living large as the "World's Greatest Dad:" Above.

    Robin Williams, as a father living on the edge of the posthumous misplaced popularity of his deeply depraved son, pulls off this complex role, which makes the film work. It's an admirable story about the reality of the rare, but real social strata that exists within some schools, and no one within this social environment gets out of this satire without a full measure of well placed ridicule. An example: The school systems' psychiatrist is all a-twitter with his new role as the school's grief counselor, and wonders: Why no grief with Kyle's death? Imagine his excitement when the forged suicide note abruptly changes the mood of the school?
Director Bobcat Goldthwait, and the film's star, Robin Williams, contemplate what it means to be the world's greatest dad: Above.

    Writer /Director Goldthwait, who also wrote this dark tale, took a big chance and it worked. He took this low budget vehicle, and made it funny to those of us who can stomach the dark reality of the Clayton family. Unlike many reviewers, I do not give critical brownie points to films without money that, "like the little engine that could," pull it off, and succeed with what they intended - to entertain at some level. This film earned its stripes with me, because it deserves them. The film has its structural problems, which I will not mention because it will spoil the conclusion, but at just 99 minutes, there are plenty of laughs for time served in the dark lair of this black film.

    Rated R. Released in theaters August 21, 2009


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