World's Greatest Dad

A very funny comedy. It’s a very funny comedy that almost made me cry.

With a merciless acuity this nihilistic comedy ridicules collective grief and the news media's cynical marketing of inspirational uplift after a death.

For a comedy about autoerotic asphyxiation, epic deception, and shameless exploitation, World's Greatest Dad is a surprisingly sweet and tender affair.

May not be for everyone, but filmgoers tuned in to its particular, perverse frequency will find much to value in its bent sense of humor and compassion.

At around the halfway point the film takes an intriguing swerve, as Kyle is canonized and Lance is unexpectedly launched into celebrityhood. Flashes of deadpan outrageousness occasionally redeem the dourness.

Odd, confident, challenging, and featuring a brilliant turn by Williams. If only there was just a little more to it.

Dunderheaded delirium from writer-director Bobcat Goldthwait.

Many would say that World's Greatest Dad has quite a misleading title, but this couldn't be further from the truth, perfectly summing up a dangerously funny film that pushes the boundaries of comedy, but also how us human beings may deal when tragedy strikes under the most unexplainable of circumstances. Lance Clayton (Robin Williams) plays a down on his luck high school english teacher who aspires to become a famous writer, as he has yet to sell any of his work. He is father to a very unruly and under-acheiving son, Kyle (Daryl Sabara), who doesn't appreciate or show any love towards his father, but Lance seems to just let it pass him by, along with a very non committed relationship with fellow teacher Claire (Alexie Gilmore). But just when Lance seems to make a breakthrough with his arrogant son, an embarrassing yet equally tragic occurrence befalls Lance that soon changes his life forever, but not in the most common and expectant of circumstances. The following story continues in a very surreal and awkwardly brilliant manner, one which director Bobcat Goldthwaite has utilised to the its fullest advantage, combining awkward confrontations with a black comedy script, all based on a lie. Robin Williams puts in a dramatically grounded and excellent performance as the dad who is just along for the ride, until his guilt gets the better of him, which is perhaps where the film started to slightly unravel. His continuing lie to the people surrounding him becomes monstrous, to the point were he can only sit back and watch what he has created. Daryl Sabara also steps out of his comfort zone as a teen action hero to be, well most average teens in our current generation, spoilt and ignorant to the point of disbelief, and he plays the part very well. The film tests the emotional depth of the human psyche, and to what lengths we might go under pressure to cover up or even grieve for the loss of family or friends. What truly sets the film apart is really the almost realistic nature of the events, as they happen now in our very society. World's Greatest Dad plays out basically to tap and prod at the basis of humans and how they capitalise on the opportunities of death. To what heights does hypocrisy and two-faced lying go? All these questions are put forward in this wonderfully crafted and risky tale of a dads strained relationship with his loathsome son.

It is an actually good movie. It is promoted as a comedy and, while it had a few comedic moments, it's mostly a quite sad story. Robin Williams was, once again, very good and the story was original and interesting. It might not be one of Robin Williams' best movies, but it's still worth a watch if you like dark humour.

This is a good little flick sporting a great performance from the late Robin Williams. This is not the best film to watch if you want to see it for him right now, but all the same, I enjoyed it a good bit. The comedy works for the most part and at times, it gut bustingly hilarious. However, there are definitely a lot of long portions of this one that are not all that funny. This one is certainly very dark at times, but the humor of the situations lighten it up a tad. The film is also an interesting discussion of posthumous celebrity, suicide, and teenagers. However, the film itself is pretty predictable. As you watch it, you can pretty much assume how it will end, but that is not a huge deal to me, though it does hurt the overall enjoyment since I knew what was ultimately going to happen. All the same, this one is a dark, enjoyable, at times upsetting little film that is a good one to watch if you are looking for something to watch.

Robin Williams is one of the funniest men to ever star on the silverscreen, but occasionally he does a weird dark comedy, that's very hit or miss. In World's Greatest Dad, Williams plays an English Teacher, who covers up his son's bizarre and embarrassing death. The suicide note he forged gets printed by the school newspaper, making his loser son, an overnight sensation. Williams is a great actor and gives creedence to even a bad film like this, but even he can't save this one. The story is just ridiculous, his son (Daryl Sabara) was a complete that everyone wanted dead. No one would all of a sudden care, just because he wrote a heartfelt suicide note. It's also extremely unrealistic, since his son was as stupid as they come. That being said, with the exception of newcomer, Eric Martin, the rest of the supporting cast was awful, making the film that much more unrealistic. World's Greatest Dad may have landed it's star, but it's a sloppy movie, that really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's an hour and a half of pure torture, with the occasional funny scene that's all Robin Williams. This is one film that just starts out slow, never gets going and is anything but the "hilarious", "wonderful" film that I was expecting.

On ne sait pas trop ce que c’est… une sorte de comédie entre le père prof surmené et son fiston débilos ? bah, ça pourrait sauf que c’est pas drôle en fait… ou alors faut être un ado idiot en situation de handicap (mental) après avoir ingéré une surdose de gaz hilarant… et encore, même là, c’est pas garanti. Serait-ce alors un drame comme le pourrait suggérer ce qui arrive éventuellement vers la moitié du film ? eh bien même pas… ou alors, c’est une forme d’humour sans doute un peu spéciale… un humour spécialement con alors mais après tout, c’est possible… Mais là encore, ça ne fonctionne pas non plus, y compris si on se place dans le domaine de l’absurde… ou alors, c’est absurdement con. Ce qui nous ramène invariablement au problème principal du film : ça ne tient pas debout, rien, absolument rien n’est crédible là-dedans. Du coup, c’est le film entier qui tourne à vide… malgré le regretté Robin Williams bien entendu. Hélas, tous ses efforts ne peuvent sortir cette ‘comédie dramatique’ (?!) de sa nullité intrinsèque : ce n’est pas le pire film au monde, non, mais il figure sur la liste des daubes en très bonne place, assurément !