World's Greatest Dad - Blu-ray Review

Details: By Loron Hays; 26 April 2010

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</script></div>{/googleAds}Robin Williams has always been a champion of Bobcat Goldthwait's eccentric brand of comedy even when he was strictly doing stand-up. Now that Goldthwait has established himself as a writer/director of the darkest of comedies (Shakes the Clown, Sleeping Dogs Lie), it seems Williams is not the only one celebrating Goldwaith's efforts at developing the most strangely perverse into solid ideas rich with laughs; however, in Goldthwait's latest film, World's Greatest Dad, Williams gets to join in on the satirical silliness with absurdly funny and wickedly uncomfortable results.

Lance Clayton (played by a subtle Williams) dreams of being a published writer. Instead, the cold reality that greets him everyday is that of an unpopular High School English teacher. He and his noncommittal girlfriend (Alexie Gilmore), a fellow teacher, must keep their not-so-serious romance under wraps because of a restrictive school policy and his son (Daryl Sabara), sex-obsessed and just plain evil, makes everybody's skin crawl including the audience. For Lance, life is a total disappointment. His chance to change everything comes when, embarrassed by his son's accidental death while trying to get off, he writes a suicide letter that receives public attention and follows it up with a fabricated diary â"written" by his son that earns national attention.

It's this quest for notoriety that is at the heart of the film. Goldthwait is giving rationale for the darkly obscene feats of certain attention-starved people and just when the absurdities are somewhat digested by the audience, Goldthwait and Williams dump more fuel onto the well-ablazed fire. When it comes to obsessions with celebrity especially in this day and age it seems all of us need to have our limits challenged. This is satire that is certainly not meant for everybody, but the more adventurous audiences will be well rewarded with laughs and new ideas to think about.

Williams, giving the camera the subtlest of face changes, is quite effective as Lance; his performance is borderline brilliant at times and is a gentle reminder of how funny Williams can be when he isn't trying too hard (see RV, License to Wed and Old Dogs if in doubt). His acting is never over the top (like fellow funnyman Jim Carrey's usually is) and, as a result, he and the film perform a nice balancing act between comedy and tragic humility never dipping too far for too long on one side - as Lance reaches toward the stars for notoriety as everything in the here-and-now collapses. What is remarkable, though, is how clever and sickly entertaining Goldthwait's script is; it's a tight piece of screenwriting and clever in all the right parts to make it wholly original and completely unforgettable. Williams performance also leaves us with a couple of ideas to think about after the movie has ended in life, just as there is a thin line separating love and hate, there is an even thinner line separating rich laughter from a well of tears.

Component Grades
Movie		DVD


DVD Experience

Blu-ray Details:

Special features to the blu-ray disc include a commentary with Writer/Director Bobcat Goldthwait which is informative and slightly hysterical at times (considering the friendship between Williams and himself), five deleted scenes that are obviously cut for reasons of being unnecessary, four uproarious outtakes, the featurettes: Behind The Scenes: WWBCD?, A Look At World's Greatest Dad. There is also the "I Hope I Become A Ghost" music video by The Deadly Syndrome, the official trailers, and BD-Live interactivity.

Screen Formats: 1.85:1

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Language and Sound: English 5.1 DTS-Master Audio (48kHz, 24-bit)