What Dad Did

I was one of the few people who saw World's Greatest Dad in the cinema.  Relatively low-budget at $10 million, it didn't even gross $250,000.  I've recently seen it on cable and think it deserves a second look.

Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, it stars Robin Williams as Lance Clayton, a single father who wants to make it as a writer but is stuck as a high school teacher--an unpopular one at that.  He's also got the world's most awful teenage son. (Spoilers ahead, and usually I don't care, but I admit when I saw the film I didn't see the turn in the plot coming, and it made a difference.) Just when you don't think things can get any worse, his kid dies of autoerotic asphyxiation.  Lance not only covers it up, making it look like suicide, but starts writing work he claims comes from his son, which shows surprising depth and becomes a successful book. His son, who was once scorned, becomes a school legend.

Basically, though Robin Williams grieves, his son's death is the best thing that could have happened.  The only question is can he, and will he, continue the charade.

The film, as you might guess, is a dark comedy.  It plays pretty well, though the kid is so horrible it's hard to take the second time around.  The critics generally liked it, but the whole subject is unpleasant enough that I can understand why a larger audience didn't cotton to it.  But maybe it can have a successful afterlife--these days movies don't always have to make it in the theatre (well, usually they do, but there are exceptions).  My only quibble is the uplift at the end, which I'm not sure is earned, and I'm not sure works.  But the rest is original enough that I can overlook a weak ending.