Plot summary (with spoilers): Lance Clayton (played by Robin Williams) is a single dad to 15-year-old Kyle (Daryl Sabara). Lance teaches English at a private high school, but his real dream is to be a novelist. He routinely sends off manuscripts that are just as routinely rejected by publishers. No one knows of his aspirations except Claire (Alexie Gilmore), a fellow teacher with whom Lance is sleeping.
Lance’s life seems to be in disarray right from the start of the film. He walks in on Kyle in the middle of some kind of auto-asphyxiation/masturbation activity, which proves more embarrassing for the father than the son. He then learns that his poetry classes are in danger of being canceled because of low attendance. Students would rather take English with Mike Lane (Henry Simmons), a super-cool teacher who plays basketball and publishes articles in The New Yorker. Even Claire is more interested in Mike than in Lance. To make things even worse, Kyle is constantly getting in trouble at school and is on the verge of expulsion.
The first half of the film establishes the dynamic of the father-son relationship while giving some important insight into both characters. Then, tragedy strikes as Kyle’s favorite form of masturbation results in accidental death. Lance, not wishing either him or Kyle to suffer from the embarrassing details, rearranges the scene to look like an intentional suicide, leaving a deep, thought-provoking note in the process.
The suicide note is so good, in fact, that everyone starts to view Kyle differently. Students and teachers alike think there must have been so much more to him than the foul-mouthed, sex-obsessed cretin he appeared to be. Lance goes along with this, and writes some journals in Kyle’s name — which are good enough to be published.
When the Kyle adulation reaches a fever pitch, Lance can’t take it anymore. He knows as well as anyone what a “douchebag” his son was, and cannot stand the hypocrisy of everyone that now admires everything Kyle. He reveals the truth, and though he becomes the target of outrage and hatred, he feels a new sense of freedom.
Liked:
- Daryl Sabara was awesome as Kyle! He played the role of know-it-all smart-ass teen perfectly. I was so impressed that I looked him up on IMDb — and was shocked to discover that he’s the boy from the original Spy Kids!! Wow, what a change from that kid to this one! He also played Murphy Brown’s baby, which, sadly, I am old enough to have seen.
- Robin Williams is sooo much better when he plays these understated characters. I felt bad for him during the first half of the film because no matter how much of a jerk Kyle was, Lance just sucked it up — and kept trying to reach out to his son. I would NOT have the same kind of patience in similar circumstances, so kudos to him. (But at the same time, I kind of wonder if Kyle’s lack of respect stemmed from Lance’s lack of disciplinary measures.)
Disliked:
- The film took a total nosedive after Kyle’s death. I was fully engrossed during the first part, but after the kid died, it became a totally different — and far less interesting — movie. I think this would have been better if the main plot explored the relationship between father and son the whole time instead of veering off into the adulation-after-death theme.
Rating:
World’s Greatest Dad started off very well, with some great performances from Robin Williams and Daryl Sabara. But the film lost me at the halfway point, and wasn’t able to do anything to grab my attention away from my iPad once Kyle was gone. I give the first part 5 stars out of 5, but the overall rating is just 3 out of 5.
Entourage 7×07 — “Tequila and Coke”: I thought Vince passing out by the pool last week was going to be more of an issue. No one even mentioned it in this ep? If that was typical behavior from him, I could understand how nobody would think twice about it. But when has Vince ever passed out like that? And now he’s doing coke? He’s truly on a downward spiral. I hope the writers take this all the way and let him do some very self-destructive things. I’m tired of seeing his buddies bail him out just in the nick of time. Let him crash and burn!
Burn Notice 4×10 — “Hard Time”: I’m kinda in a hurry this morning, so this post will be pretty short. I don’t have much to say about the ep anyway. It was mostly boring for me, since most of it took place inside the prison where Michael was essentially working alone. I prefer it when the gang works together as a team. 
I am not a fan of science fiction shows/movies, but my stepfather is. He loves Star Wars, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica. I’ve tried to watch those things with him, but I just can’t get into the characters or the storylines. Nevertheless, I do respect his choices, and try to buy him appropriate gifts whenever possible.
As you know, I always try a few new television shows over the summer. This gives me a chance to keep my blog going with new material, and also helps me work out my fall viewing schedule. If I find a really good show over the summer, I’m likely to insert it into my lineup of regular shows to replace ones that I quit watching. For example, I’m not going to be watching House anymore, so I need something to fill that slot.
I had kind of a love-hate relationship with the TV series Lost. On the one hand, I truly enjoyed getting to know some of the characters through the flashbacks, their actions on the island, and in later seasons, the alternate universe/afterlife stuff. The show featured some of the best television characters ever! But on the other hand, some of the mysteries and “supernatural” phenomena that the writers liked to toss into the plots were just ridiculous and took me way out of the show. Still, now that it’s gone forever, I really do miss it.
Plot summary (with spoilers): It’s practically impossible to talk about this movie without going into some spoilers, so don’t read if you don’t want to know! The Joneses, Steve (played by David Duchovny), Kate (Demi Moore), Jenn (Amber Heard), and Mick (Ben Hollingsworth), appear to be a perfect family. They’re all good-looking and successful, and they have all the material possessions anyone could ever want, including a massive home filled with sleek