Review: World's Greatest Dad

In World's Greatest Dad, Robin Williams plays Lance Clayton, an unpublished writer who teaches poetry during they day. He is also a single parent to the worst child ever, Kyle (Daryl Sabara), who is rude, a liar, obsessed with pornography, and hates everything. He makes his father's homelife, relationship, and job way harder than it should be. I cannot really say much else since it would give away the direction of the movie, but it should be said it takes a disturbing path.

Even witht the cult success of Shakes the Clown, the phrase "written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait" still does not inspire the notion of quality. This could not be any less true. World's Greatest Dad is in fact a well thought-out, well-paced dramedy. It's strongest aspect being the acting ability of Robin Williams. Williams is able to bring so much heart and sadness to a fairly witty character, a big change from his usual energized rambling that describes his stand-up and interviews. Despite the conflicts with his son, you never believe for a second that he does not love him unconditionally, nor do you ever think that when deciding his later actions that he is not hesitant or guilt-ridden while doing them. The disturbing content yet still humorous tone is entirely justified by Williams' well-balanced performance.

The supporting cast, built mostly of unknown and unfamiliar actors, performs fine. They did not ruin the movie, but I do not think they brought anything particularly to the final product. Daryl Sabara sticks out as the acid-tongue son of Robin Williams' character. Unlike most performances, this role in particular really gains in advantage from a "forced" performance. The character itself is a liar and unintelligent and comes off that much more horribly.

The pacing for the most part is pretty good, yet it suffers from one major flaw: too many music montages. Music montages are certainly an effective tool, especially in this movie where it is used to show how numerous characters react individually to the events of the movie. But these same characters perfectly depict their viewpoints during the course of the movie, especially with conversations with Robin Williams. The montages thus become redudant, and considering there are noticably numerous, they do become annoying.

World's Greatest Dad is not a laugh riot, but it is a surprising gem of a movie. Williams performs fantastically, and the writing and directing of Goldthwait is very effective.

7/10