Robin Williams likes edgy, even ugly roles. Think “Insomnia” and “One Hour Photo,” or his turn on “Law & Order: SVU” as sociopath Merritt Rook.
Writer-director-comic Bobcat Goldthwait is fond of the disturbing, too, as in “Shakes the Clown.” Previous movies focused on a drunken kiddie-party performer. “Stay” turned on an interspecies indiscretion.
In “World’s Greatest Dad,” Williams plays Lance Clayton, the too-passive father of a hostile teen. Kyle’s not run-of – the-mill angry, but call-in-the- therapist-and-notify-the-authorities fuming.
Lance teaches poetry at a nearby high school. Kyle is a student at the same school. If Lance is the world’s greatest dad (and a coffee cup declares he is), he’s saddled with the world’s worst son.
An unpublished writer, Lance sends manuscripts out. They boomerang back. A colleague, Mike (Henry Simmons), wows students and gets published with an ease befitting his male-model good looks.
Although Lance is having an affair with a flighty art teacher (Alexie Gilmore), he behaves like a man becoming what he fears: a loser. He douses the smell of disappointment (and resentment) with niceness.
Daryl Sabara is malignant as Kyle. “Browbeats” is too weak a verb for how he treats his dad, “best friend” Andrew (Evan Martin) and anyone else caught in the churn of his fury.
Listening to Kyle, we feel much the way Lance does: How did this kid happen to him? It’s a question Gold- thwait and Williams answer, then dodge.
“World’s Greatest Dad” relies on audiences forgoing understanding Kyle, which feels like a cheat. We simply wish he would go away.
When he does — tragically, stupidly — life gets better for Lance, and the movie gets easier on the audience.
As Lance makes his way toward the success he’s dreamed of, the film offers familiar observations about the fickleness of celebrity and the self-serving nature of collective grief. Still, there are nice touches: A warm chemistry exists between Lance and neighbor Bonnie (Mitzi McCall makes a likable broad), an older woman who shares his fondness for classic zombie flicks. And Goldthwait’s cameo as a chauffeur reminds us that the comic with the piercing whine has mellowed.
Which is a reason “World’s Greatest Dad” disappoints. Clearly the comedy is gunning for the fraudulent — only the film is not to be trusted, either. Making Kyle godawful may seem edgy, even authentic. But it’s pure setup.
World’s Greatest Dad
Written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait; photography by Horacio Marquinez; starring Robin Williams, Alexie Gilmore, Daryl Sabara, Geoff Pierson, Henry Simmons, Mitzi McCall, Evan Martin. Rated R for for language, crude and sexual content, some drug use and disturbing images. 99 minutes. Opens today at the Regency Theater at Tamarac Square.
