2009, USA
Comedy, Drama
In the cult dark comedy, Heathers, high school deaths run rampant under the blanket lie of suicide. The movie highlights the song "Teenage Suicide, Don't Do It," and in Bobcat "Police Academy 4" Goldthwait's latest directorial outing, he happily follows the instructions of the '80s cult film.
Goldthwait's film, World's Greatest Dad, finds a sedate Robin Williams as Lance Clayton -- failed writer, powerless father and high school poetry teacher who would put to sleep his Dead Poets Society alter ego. Under the same roof is Lance's teenaged son (Daryl Sabara, in a very un-Spy Kids role) Kyle as every parent's nightmare. Not merely hormonal but fetishistic to a dangerous degree, the boy's only pleasures come from his latest online porn discoveries and making his dad's life hell by stomping on every attempt for communication.
Kyle's obsessions soon find him with both feet in the grave through a less than honorable exit. As Lance innocently attempts to provide his son with the dignity he never earned, a re-staged death and suicide note suddenly open the door to the sympathy and respect that Lance was never previously allowed.
The living Kyle fed off of the hatred he spurred from his classmates, yet the Kyle that Lance recreates through a fake journal becomes the misunderstood philosopher with whom everyone identifies. His callow remarks become a shell for the love he could never show, and his father's words a Bible for fellow students. Lance's writing skills finally receive acclaim as the voice of a dismissed youth, and what began as a tool for grieving twists into a stab at celebrity. As his cute art teacher girlfriend finally requests to out their relationship and publishers line up at his doorstep, Lance's dreams become realized through tragedy.
Goldthwait is no stranger to black comedies, as this film follows his last writing-directorial effort, Sleeping Dogs Lie, a film which observed the repercussions of a woman who takes the pet and master relationship too far. In World's Greatest Dad, Goldthwait tries to cash in on the Heathers crowd but misses the mark with clichéd ironic idol worship and wobbly indecision about whether the film is delivering a message or a punch line. Supported by unbalanced legs, the focus stumbles towards sympathy but repeatedly crashes into the same thin plot devices. An admirable turn from the man who played Officer Zed, but Goldthwait is still earning his stripes as a credible director.