Review: 'World's Greatest Dad'

Robin Williams plays the lead in this dour comedy that has flashes of deadpan outrageousness.

|
Business Wire
Robin Williams and Alexi Gilmore in 'World's Greatest Dad.'

Screechy-voiced comic Bobcat Goldthwait segued years ago into movie directing. His 1991 "Shakes the Clown" has a cult following, his next, "Sleeping Dogs Lie," came 15 years later. Picking up the pace, Goldthwait is now on board for his latest film, "World's Greatest Dad," which he also wrote, starring Robin Williams in one of those dreary, somnolent performances of his that often gets mistaken for serious acting. He plays Lance Clayton, a Seattle high school teacher whose wife has left him, who can't get any of his novels published, and whose son Kyle (Daryl Sabara) is a foul-mouthed washout despised, for good reason, by his classmates and just about everybody else. What's a dad to do? At around the halfway point the film takes an intriguing swerve, as Kyle is canonized and Lance is unexpectedly launched into celebrityhood. Flashes of deadpan outrageousness occasionally redeem the dourness. Grade: B- (Rated R for language, crude and sexual content, some drug use, and disturbing images.)

You've read 3 of 3 free articles. Subscribe to continue.
QR Code to Review: 'World's Greatest Dad'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2009/0821/p17s05-almo.html
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe
CSM logo

Why is Christian Science in our name?

Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that.

The Church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we’ve aimed “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind,” as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.

Here, you’ll find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences – a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.

Explore values journalism About us