| World's Greatest Dad | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Bobcat Goldthwait |
| Produced by | Howard Gertler Ted Hamm Richard Kelly Sean McKittrick Tim Perell Sarah de Sa Rego (co-producer) Jennifer Roth (executive producer) |
| Written by | Bobcat Goldthwait |
| Starring | Robin Williams Daryl Sabara Alexie Gilmore Evan Martin Lorraine Nicholson Henry Simmons Geoff Pierson |
| Music by | Gerald Brunskill |
| Cinematography | Horacio Marquínez |
| Studio | Darko Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Magnolia Pictures[1] |
| Release date(s) | August 21, 2009 |
| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10,000,000[2] |
| Box office | $221,215 [3] |
World's Greatest Dad is a 2009 American black comedy film written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait. It stars Robin Williams, Daryl Sabara, and Alexie Gilmore. The film was released on July 24 on video on demand providers before its limited theatrical release on August 24, 2009. This film was rated R by the MPAA for language, crude and sexual content, some drug use, and disturbing images.
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Lance Clayton (Robin Williams) is a single father, unpublished author, and high-school English teacher who dreams of becoming a famous writer. He unsuccessfully tries to bond with his 15 year old underachieving, manipulative, hostile, sex-obsessed teenage son Kyle (Sabara).[4] Kyle is a student at the school where Lance teaches an unpopular poetry class. His only friend is Andrew, a fellow student who spends his evenings at the Claytons' house trying to avoid his embarrassing alcoholic mother. He is respectful and starkly different from Kyle. Kyle's consistently poor academic performance and vile behavior gain the attention of the school principal, who advises Lance that Kyle should transfer to a special-needs school.
One night, after Kyle and Lance spend an evening with Lance’s noncommittal girlfriend Claire (who has eyes on a fellow teacher named Mike), Lance discovers in horror that Kyle has accidentally strangled himself in an autoerotic asphyxiation accident in his bedroom, looking at a picture of Claire's underwear that he sneaked under the table with his cell phone that night. To avoid embarrassing his son and himself, he stages Kyle’s death as an intentional suicide. He writes a suicide note on Kyle’s computer and hangs his son’s body in the closet.
Initially, most of the students and faculty at Lance's school are uninterested in Kyle's death, Kyle having been a very unpopular and unlikeable person. However, a classmate later obtains the suicide note from police records and publishes it in the school newspaper. The note strikes a chord with the students and faculty, and suddenly many students claim to have been friends with Kyle.
Enjoying the attention his writing (his impromptu suicide note for Kyle) is finally receiving, Lance decides to write and publish a phony journal that was supposedly written by his son before his suicide. Kyle becomes something of a post-mortem cult phenomenon at the school, and soon Lance begins to receive the attention and adoration that he had always desired. Claire, the much younger teacher on staff, who has been dating Lance at her convenience, begins to give him her undivided attention. Andrew finds Kyle’s suicide note and journals as highly uncharacteristic based on Kyle's personality when he was alive. Although Andrew often challenges Lance to explain his son’s inexplicably profound writing, Lance brushes him off.
The bogus journal soon attracts the attention of book publishers and Lance lands a television appearance on a nationally broadcast talk show. The school principal then decides to rename the school library in Kyle’s honor, despite Kyle's attitude at school during his lifetime and the fact that the principal had at one point suggested that Kyle be transferred. Lance's work, though published under false pretenses, earns him all the fame and appreciation he has dreamed of.
At the library dedication, pressed by a combination of his guilt over exploiting his son’s death, his mounting hatred for the hypocrites who claimed false friendship, and the faculty’s new-found admiration of the “genius” of his dead son, Lance confesses the reality of the situation in place of giving an acceptance speech. After explaining Kyle’s death was an asphyxiation accident and that he wrote Kyle's journal, he feels completely reborn, runs to the school's pool, and dives into it nude. Lance becomes the new social pariah and is hated by everyone except by his elderly neighbor and Andrew, who encourages Lance to continue writing.
The film was shot in Seattle, Washington, largely at the former F.A. McDonald School in Wallingford.[5] Seattle resident and former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic has a wordless cameo while consoling Williams' character at a newspaper stand. Bruce Hornsby appears as himself at the library dedication.
The DVD was released on December 8, 2009 and featured an audio commentary track with the director, deleted scenes, outtakes, and a making of featurette.
World's Greatest Dad received generally positive reviews from critics, holding a "Fresh" rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 112 reviews, with the consensus: "World's Greatest Dad is a risky, deadpan, dark comedy that effectively explores the nature of posthumous cults of celebrity."[6] Metacritic reported that the film had an average score of 69 out of 100, based on 23 reviews.[7]
The film was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival, the website hailing it as a "lusciously perverse, and refreshingly original comedy that tackles love, loss, and our curious quest for infamy." It also commented on Robin Williams' performance as outstanding.[4] Sandra L. Frey observed the film's portrayal of teen angst, and said that the film also reminds the audience that adults can offer strong angst of their own.[8] Devin Faraci called the film "brilliant" and "genius." Paul Fischer named it as one of the best films of the year.[9] Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz both gave the film favorable reviews on At The Movies. Mankiewicz saluted Daryl Sabara's performance as exceptionally well done, commented on the film's "remarkably funny script," and overall considered it a "little gem." Tom Rougvieq from the Whitstable Times gave it a 3 out of 4 stars and called it a refreshing comedy of the age, praising its originality and Robin Williams' performance.[10] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave World's Greatest Dad 3 out of 4 stars, but noticed that the material could have been even darker in its satire, and he questioned whether it was the director's intention.[11]
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