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Released by: Magnolia Films
Released on: 12-08-09
Director: Bobcat Goldthwait
Year: 2009
Cast: Robin Williams, Daryl Sabara, Alexie Gilmore
The Movie:
At first glance it'd be pretty easy to dismiss World's Greatest Dad as a dopey, goofy mainstream comedy. After all, you've got Robin Williams on the cover looking cheeky - it's all fairly passive, pretty innocent looking, right? And who wouldn't associate Mr. Williams with dreck like Mrs. Doubtfire and RV these days? The fact of the matter is, however, that this is one twisted film.
Proceed with caution, this review contains some spoilers.
Williams plays a man named Lance Clayton who works as a highschool poetry teacher. A failed writer who still aspires to get published one day, he's more or less settled in life. His wife has left him and he's a single dad, trying very half-assedly to raise his son, Kyle (Daryl Sabara), quite possibly the most obnoxious kid ever born. Kyle's the type of guy who says 'Hey that pussy won't eat itself' to girls as they walk down the hall and it just so happens that he attends the school his dad teachers at. Lance has one bright spot in his life, he's having a somewhat secret fling with the art teacher, Claire (Alexie Gilmore), who doesn't want anyone to find out about their relationship.
Lance's life is pretty mundane for the most part, but all of that changes when he comes home from a date with Claire to find that Kyle has died while jerking off to pictures of Claire on his computer, chocked from the tie around his neck. That's right, Robin Williams comes home to find his kid dead from self afflicted auto-erotic asphyxiation. Rather than let the word get out about the truth behind his son's death, he writes a suicide note which is eventually published in the school newspaper, turning his son into a bit of a folk hero around the school. When the note is published, the kids who would have previously had nothing to do with Kyle are all of a sudden trumpeting his greatness and the only one who sees through any of this is the one kid who was Kyle's only friend before he died. Meanwhile, Lance writes his dead son's journal for him, which soon leads way to Lance finally getting the life he'd always wanted…
Written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait (yes, that Bobcat Goldthwait), World's Greatest Dad is dramatic without being melodramatic, touching without being sugary, and frequently hysterically funny. At the middle of it all is Williams as Lance Clayton, a man who we at first feel quite sorry for but who we being to change our feelings about around the half way point of the film. Generally an actor who this reviewer flat out cannot stand, here Williams is very good. He plays the role with just enough inherent sadness that you feel for the character even during the later part of the film where you probably know you shouldn't. The rest of the cast is also quite good, with Sabara playing the perfect asshole and Gilmore making for the picture perfect shallow bitch but Williams overshadows them all, delivering a performance that is believable as it is memorable.
The humor in the film is remarkably twisted. It's hard not to laugh when Lance finds his son dead, but at the same time, when he breaks down and cries, you understand and you feel that he means it. Even if he didn't like his son, he did love him, and it always hurts to lose someone. It's how he revels in the afterglow that makes his character the odd dichotomy that he is, and what makes the movie as interesting and deviously funny as it often can be.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The anamorphic 1.85.1 VC-1 encoded 1080p transfer for Mutant Chronicles looks good once you get used to the film's subdued color scheme. Black levels are rich and strong and detail is quite impressive when it wants to be. The film has had a fairly bleak look to it so you won't get the popping color that you find in some HD releases but the transfer is strong regardless. There aren't any problems with mpeg compression artifacts or edge enhancement to note nor are there any issues with shimmering or moiré. Skin tones look as natural enough and detail levels are strong throughout.
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track on this disc is pretty mellow. There's a fair bit of constant activity coming at you from the rear channels but most of it is pretty ambient. This is a dialogue based film and thankfully the dialogue is clean and clear and there's plenty of tight, bouncy, bass response to provide a full lower end in the score, which is spread out nicely in the mix. There's a lot of detail in the sound mix, from the background noise at the school to the various instruments used in the music, and all of this comes through very clearly. Optional subtitles are provided in English, and Spanish.
The most interesting of the extras on this disc is a feature length commentary track with writer/director Bobcat Goldthwait (who thankfully does not talk like his Police Academy character) who does a great job of explaining where some of the ideas came from for this film and what it was like working with the various participants on the project. He covers everything from Williams' character's pot smoking habit to how he personally still travels around the country doing stand up to make ends meet so that he can continue to direct odd little movies such as this. It's a very laid back and conversational track that's actually very engaging. If you dug the movie, definitely take the time to listen to this track as it's really good stuff.
From there, check out a featurette called Behind The Scenes: WWBCD?, which is a nineteen minute documentary shot by the director's daughter. There's as much behind the scenes footage here as there are odd, impromptu interviews with the cast as they discuss the deeper parts of the script, their working relationship with one another and the director, and more. A few shorter extras are also included here, such as the HDNet: World's Greatest Dad five minute promo piece, a video for I Hope I Become A Ghost by The Deadly Syndrome, five minutes worth of fairly uninteresting deleted scenes, and two minutes worth of moderately amusing outtakes.
Rounding out the disc are trailers for a few other Magnolia properties (though no trailer for the feature itself), animated menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
A twisted and surprisingly affecting pitch black comedy, World's Greatest Dad gets a very impressive Blu-ray release from Magnolia Films offering up the film in excellent quality and with quite a few decent extras highlighted by a great commentary track.