Independent Film Festival Boston 2009

Director Bobcat Goldthwait in attendance.

Life has fallen far short of ideal for Lance Clayton (Robin Williams). A writer who has never been published, he finds himself teaching an unpopular poetry course in the same high school where his hostile, underachieving son Kyle (Daryl Sabara) matriculates. He can’t get comfortable in a secret relationship with a fellow educator (Alexie Gilmore). His few students are plagiarizing their assignments. Kyle is startlingly crude on his best days and profoundly abusive on his worst.

Struggling to alter his son’s path, Lance finds himself sacrificing more and more of his own dreams for woefully limited returns. Then Kyle makes his stupidest and most costly mistake ever, and his panicking father covers for him. Abruptly, Lance realizes that he can reach for his ideals once more, simply by “living through” his son in a way that most parents would never dream of––or dare.

Written and directed by comic icon Bobcat Goldthwait, WORLD’S GREATEST DAD takes a page from the book of HEATHERS in treating audiences to the lighter side––such as it is––of teen angst. Meanwhile, it reminds us that grown-ups can offer some pretty impressive angst of their own.

- Sandra L. Frey

Presented by JetBlue