World's Greatest Dad (2009)

The Worst Film Ever

Brilliant and touching

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

I was catching up with some of Robin Williams brilliant work (standup and movies) after his tragic demise.Robin Williams plays Lance Clayton, high school poetry teacher and single parent. Lance Clayton is a failed writer, having had several books rejected. His son Kyle performs poorly at school, is ill tempered and disobedient, with few friends. After his son's death caused by autoerotic asphyxiation, Lance makes the death look like suicide. When the school students interpret Kyle's fake suicide note as deeply intelligent, and become the late Kyle's new best friends, Lance exploits this by publishing Kyle's fake Journal. Finally Lance admits Kyle's true cause of death and that he wrote Kyle's Journal. The message of the film is that its better to be alone than to be with people who make you feel alone.World's Greatest Dad, is probably better titled World's Worst Dad. Neither parent or child have much empathy for each other. Both seemed to be 'losers'. The cause of Kyle's death seems implausible, given Kyle's likely novice experience. The film seems to be seeking attention through highlighting taboo subjects. The message of being alone and unliked, fails for me as the film does not offer solutions for better parenting and focuses for a time on youth suicide, which is not properly dealt with.The acting was OK, but I felt the messages in the film were off key and inappropriate. 5.5/10

Most of the recent Robin Williams films have been utter bombs to be honest; cheap comedy full of immature laughs, but mostly no laughs at all. Whilst this film won't stand as high as Good Morning Vietnam or Dead Poet Society, The World's Greatest Dad shines almost equally to these greats. It's funny, not hysterical, but is also tender on dealing with such a heavy subject matter. The film seems to tackle it's strong themes with ease, being careful not insult, but also being entertaining, straining away from boredom.This is an A grade film. Robin Williams does a fantastic job at setting up his character and the film as a whole is great fun to watch. Some parts are extremely hilarious, whilst others a deeply sad, but no matter what this roller coaster of emotions will only enhance this cinematic gem.

World's Greatest Dad was not what I expected it to be. I expected another quirky and happy themed comedy but the film is much more dark than I expected.After a teacher's son is found dead in a humiliating accident, he covers it up by faking a suicide but inadvertently creates a lot of media attention by doing so.This movie has the power to draw emotions out of you. The scene when Kyle dies is pretty well-done because of the music and because Robin Williams did a great performance since he was able to fit so much emotions into a couple minutes. And speaking of acting, Robin Williams did a great performance especially in the second half.I liked how this movie handled suicide. It was a brave and honest look at it. Of course, the way it handles it might offend some people but it's great that the movie's not afraid to step out of the audience's comfort zone.This movie is actually a lot more dark then I expected it to be. This movie goes through comedy, heartbreaking, and overcoming loss so fast that you have to switch your mood on and off real fast. While some people may be taken out of the film by this, I liked it as it reminded me of how little time it took to change Lance's personality.This is a pretty great movie. It accomplished what it was trying to do well. It had the power to draw me in and keep me entertained. It's always refreshing to find a comedy film with a deeper meaning.

While it might not rank as THE best comedy Robin Williams has ever done, it is a darkly funny film that takes advantage of his comedic and dramatic skills effectively. Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, WORLD'S GREATEST DAD is about Lance Clayton (Williams), a failed writer who teaches poetry at the high school where his son attends. He also has trouble with his son (Daryl Sabara), who is quite a jerk to him and everyone else in his life. However, when his son accidentally dies, he sees an opportunity to get the respect he deserves. While not laugh-out-loud funny, this film was nevertheless able to take serious subject matter and get some mileage out of subverting it, while also making a statement on the legacy of the dead and how people will use it to their advantage. Robin Williams gives one of his best performances in years as Lance Clayton who, if you think about it, is like a cynical version of his John Keating character from DEAD POETS SOCIETY. The deadpan manner in which he reacts to things was also a change of pace from the manic comedy he did in the past. Daryl Sabara was really good as his jerk son. Another aspect which I liked was how, after Lance's son dies, everyone comes out of the woodwork as having liked him when, in fact, they were just responding to Lance's cover-up out of sympathy. It's amazing how far misunderstanding can go, and the film portrays this in a bold and satirical way. Still, this film could rub some people the wrong way, given how life sort of imitated art. However, this is only in retrospect. I highly doubt that Bobcat Goldthwait was anticipating what Robin Williams would eventually do, but it is really odd that things turned out the way that they did. Overall, this is really dark comedy that might turn some people off, but I thought it was a welcome return-to-form for Robin Williams.