World's Greatest Dad (2009)

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Awesome Movie

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

From the point of a cinema - something like a good film. But from the point of a viewer(me) - It was difficult to see to the end. Because of the disgusting son. Because of the awkward behavior of some of the characters. Because of the fact that Robin Williams acting in such movie.

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

So, I thought this was doing to be a goofy comedy similar to American Pie stuff--nonsense in other words. Well, it had American Pie content with the masturbation. But then it got more serious, and the son killing himself accidentally while masturbating in a faux hanging style . It is funny like that show with all those crazy ways people died, but it quickly becomes serious and sad. And so the whole film you are laughing one moment and in tears the next. At first I said 7/10 movie about a fourth of the way in. But then as it went on, it had a lot of depth. Kyle was a troubled young man who was very insecure, and so tried to cope with it by insulting and acting like a douchebag. You could see he was suffering. The actor did a really good job with the character. The part where Robin Williams' character first catches him masturbating in his strange way is well played out by the actor. Kyle's expression and words are so real. He plays it so realistic to a son being found by his dad masturbating, and Robin Williams likewise. And Kyle is played well until his death. Then Kyle dies, and Robin Williams holding his body in his arms quickly turns anything funny about the scene not funny. Tears come. And it is like this the whole movie. The depth comes in how, when they read "Kyle's" "suicide note" andjournal, they all suddenly like Kyle. It's not a, "Hey, we were jerks", but they act like Kyle was their friend. It shows how shallow people can be. Robin Williams plays the grieving father part so well. And they story and characters are very intelligent, too. The Kyle character is very real. What is called a douchebag, a guy who acts as if he is some sort of cool guy and everyone else is a loser because he is some insecure. And his friend with the drunk mother who represents the son that Kyle's father wished he had. Well, laughs and tears. Great movie.

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.