World's Greatest Dad
Dir: Bobcat Goldthwait
2009
*****
Wonderful is word often misused and certainly rarely used in describing a black comedy but I think it's quite apt here. Bobcat Goldthwait, of all people, has produced something beautiful out of something absolutely horrid, although I think its lack of success might have something to do with people's misinterpretation of the subject. World's Greatest Dad, staring Robin Williams in the title role, sees the single father of a rebellious and rather vile teenager who is unruly at school and not much better at home. When William's character comes home to find his son dead following a misguided attempt at autoerotic asphyxiation, he puts his years of being an English teacher and his yearning to one day become a writer to good use and writes an eloquent and touching suicide note in his son's name. While suicide isn't something a parent could ever be proud of, it is much better than being known as the kid who died after a death wank, or at least that is his thinking. It's dark, there's no denying it, but there is something quite profound in this very modern satire. Audiences have been so dumbed down over the years that they no longer see something truly wonderful and selfless as this is. Finding beauty in something so tragically ugly is a gift. I'm gushing. I'm so impressed though, as a fan of original cinema and the odd black comedy. It made my wife cry. If you knew my wife I wouldn't have to write a review, you'd just know it was brilliant because she wept despite the subject matter. Robin Williams is also so good in it, I personally think it's one of his best. He'll be remembered for Dead Poets Society and Good Will Hunting my most people, and that's fine, but it's the little daring roles he played that I enjoyed most. I think this is him at the top of his game, it's just a little hard not to see the poignancy this film now has considering his own death. There is no other film like it but I would go as far as saying that it is the most honest a film that Hollywood could ever dream of making, brilliantly conceived and wonderfully written.