Film Review - World's Greatest Dad
Robin Williams Stars in Best Teen Suicide Comedy Ever?
On premise alone, the film goes where so few have ever gone before. There’s a rather short list of teen suicide comedies in American cinema history, which shouldn’t come as surprise because, honestly, there aren’t too many subgenres that register as less politically correct.
World’s Greatest Dad does not come completely without precedent, though. It seems born from the same universe of Alexander Payne’s Election, another scathingly dark portrait of high school where the halls are lined with bloated egos and self-interest.
Robin Williams In The World’s Sickest Concept
Goldthwait’s film is not quite as sharp as Payne’s (few modern satires are, he set the bar pretty high), but the comedian/actor turned writer/director pulls the daunting high-concept off in style, if not necessarily with class.
Robin Williams (back into edgy material and in fine form) stars as high school poetry teacher and failed writer Lance Clayton. His unpublished manuscripts (articles, novels, poetry, the works) pile high, but perhaps his most glaring disappointment is his son, Kyle (Daryl Sabara).
Aside from his awful mouth (misogyny and homophobia galore) and general non-appreciation for his single dad’s efforts, Kyle is a porn-addicted worthless shell of person. Frankly, that’s an understatement – as Lance puts it at one point, his son is a “douche bag”.
Suicide Is Painless (And Profitable)
For the whole film to work, Goldthwait stacks the odds completely against Kyle so that, to the audience, his accidental death by auto-erotic asphyxiation comes as a relief. Being the good, loving father, Lance frames it as a suicide, typing up a brilliant suicide note to boot, thus painting Kyle as misunderstood soul rather than better off dead.
Every cloud has a silver lining and Kyle’s death becomes something of an emotional gold mine for Lance. He gets the one-up over his unspoken nemesis, the better/younger/sexier creative writing teacher (Mike Simmons), seals the deal in a relationship with his fellow teacher (Alexie Gilmore) and courts literary success via his recently deceased offspring.
As the school canonizes Kyle and Lance helps keep the myth going, Goldthwait really hits his stride. So few so-called serious films (read: Oscar bait) ever have much to say about the grieving process, and so, hey, why can’t Mr. Floppy from Unhappily Ever After?
Bobcat Goldthwait and the Funny Side of Death
Kidding aside, Goldthwait’s exaggeration of phony collective grieving is both daring and insightful. Kyle’s one and only friend (Evan Martin) observes that his published journal is sadly devoid of the things Kyle really talked about – vaginas, anal sex, and fisting. A public relations facelift (read: lie) turns Kyle into tortured artist, pined over by girls in Lance’s poetry class, memorialized on T-shirts, posters and buttons.
Kudos to Goldthwait for calling bullsh-t, and allowing a truly contemptible cast of characters thrive while having the guts to never really let up. World’s Greatest Dad is not without its missteps (there’s a few egregious sins involving some overly literal soundtrack choices), but it’s easy to forgive Goldthwait because of his commitment.
He sticks to his guns, and although his protagonist still learns a lesson or too, World’s Greatest Dad never rings false.
RATING: 3.5 out of 5 stars
VERDICT: Somehow, Goldthwait really does pull it off. He’s made a teen suicide comedy. Be forewarned, though – this one is for the cynics, or at least for the cynics who still have a sense of humor.
World's Greatest Dad
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