Review of World's Greatest Dad, opening wide

World’s Greatest Dad
Director: Bobcat Goldthwait
With: Robin Williams, Alexie Gilmore, Daryl Sabara, Henry Simmons, Evan Martin, Geoffrey Pierson

Okay, I’m surprised.  I expected that this would be another exercise in foulness and needless provocation from Goldthwait, a former standup comic from the outpatient school of comedy.  One of his previous films concerns a woman whose life is ruined because she admits that she performed oral sex on her dog when she was in college.
And, Robin Williams hasn’t had the best taste in choosing films lately.  For the first third of the film, I squirmed, as Williams’ character Lance, a washed-up aspiring writer who teaches an unpopular poetry class in high school endures his sad life, missed chances, anxiety-laden relationship with a fellow teacher (Gilmore), and the vile creature who is his son, Kyle (Sabara).
Kyle is a dimwitted porn addict, masturbator, poor student and all-around jerk.  He abuses his only friend, torments his father and spends his time at school making a pest of himself.  When he accidentally strangles himself during an auto-erotic episode, Lance rigs the incident to look like suicide, and composes a deep and moving suicide note.
When all this becomes known, the whole school adopts Kyle as a misunderstood and sensitive genius.  A bizarre circus of excessive grief and worship ensues.
This is a deeply cynical and darkly funny fable of our fan-worship culture.  It is worth getting past the off-putting spectacle of the living Kyle to get to the veneration of the deceased Saint Kyle.  Director Goldthwait has made a career of poking people in their soft spots, but here he has almost made art out of it.  Not for everyone, obviously, but if the concept doesn’t put you off immediately, it is worth seeing.
B+