World's Greatest Dad Movie Review by Ryan A. Loera

Stars:
Robin Williams - Lance Clayton
Daryl Sabara - Kyle Clayton
Alexie Gilmore - Claire

Director: Bobcat Goldthwait
Release Date: August 21, 2009
Genre: Indie film/Drama
Rated R

Lance Clayton  (Robin Williams) is a struggling writer who teaches poetry at a private school. He's written five unpublished novels and amassed piles of rejection letters from various publishers. Add to that having to raise a troublesome teenage son and you have the makings of a pretty frustrated guy.

Troublesome is really just a polite way of describing Kyle (Daryl Sabara). He's a straight up perverted asshole who doesn't appreciate everything his Dad has done for him. Although, his behavior does appear to be nothing more than a defense mechanism designed to keep him from getting too close to people, he's still quite vexing.

One morning, Lance walks into Kyle's room only to find him in the middle of choking himself while masturbating. Lance then tries to talk to him about masturbation but drops the subject upon seeing how uncomfortable it makes Kyle feel.

Luckily, Lance's flaky girlfriend, Claire (Alexie Gilmore), provides him with some minor relief from his frustrations. Of course, the fact that she's also a teacher at the same school means they have to keep their relationship a secret. This too frustrates Lance to no end.

Unfortunately, just when Lance is starting to find some kind of middle ground with his son, Kyle accidentally chokes himself to death. Lance becomes visibly distraught. This scene alone is very emotional and portrayed quite well.

In an effort to make his son's death seem less humiliating, Lance repositions Kyle's body in the closet and types out a deeply poetic suicide note.

After some time has passed, Lance returns to his teaching position only to discover that Kyle's suicide note was downloaded and printed in the school newspaper. Every student who reads it immediately feels some kind of connection to Kyle. The same goes for the faculty.

Lance then decides to write and publish Kyle's journal. Of course, Kyle could barely string two sentences together; let alone write an entire journal filled with thought provoking entries.

Still, Kyle's journal quickly becomes the number one book to read throughout the school. In fact, it becomes so popular that it grabs the attention of big name publishers and nationally syndicated talk shows.

I won't spoil the end but eventually all of Kyle's "fans" are revealed for the hypocrites they truly are.

Robin Williams' performance throughout this movie is stellar. He was a great comedic actor and an even greater dramatic actor. I believe most people tend to overlook that fact.

On a scale of 1 tamale to 10 tamales I give World's Greatest Dad 8.5 tamales.

(Rest in peace Robin Williams.)