I Love My Dad Review: Oswalt Is A Desperate Father In Cruel Dark Comedy [SXSW]
I Love My Dad is about a horrible person and, while no film has to be a moral compass for anyone, the comedy is more disturbing than funny.
In writer-director James Morosini’s I Love My Dad, Patton Oswalt plays a desperate father who wants to reconnect with his teenage son. While the premise and the execution play out like a dark comedy, the film is deeply uncomfortable to watch. Sure, Morosini’s film knows exactly what it is, but there is also an off-putting sense of unease and manipulation that is hard to stomach. I Love My Dad is about a horrible person and, while no film has to be a moral compass for anyone, the comedy is more disturbing than funny.
Morosini plays Franklin, a teenager who is leaving a mental health facility following an attempted suicide. To create boundaries between himself and his absent, self-involved, excuse-making father Chuck (Oswalt), Franklin blocks him on all of his social media accounts. Frustrated that he can no longer keep tabs on his son, Chuck creates a fake Facebook account using the identity of Becca (Claudia Sulewski), a waitress at a local diner Chuck only met once. Franklin is still emotionally raw, so it doesn’t take long for him to start opening up to “Becca." Chuck keeps up the ruse, but he finds it increasingly more difficult once Franklin expresses a desire to meet Becca face-to-face or when they start sexting each other furiously.
When it comes to parent-child relationships, there is a lot of expected forgiveness geared toward the adults who inflict trauma or generally bad behavior upon their children. In this instance, Chuck carries on pretending to be Becca instead of putting in the work to be there for his son. Franklin creates boundaries Chuck doesn’t respect, and the end of the film suggests they may be able to mend their relationship despite all that transpired, a deception that perhaps makes Franklin’s mental state all the worse. The premise, which is presumably based on Morosini’s own relationship with his father, establishes Chuck as an irrational narcissist who can’t seem to see his son’s pain. Should Franklin ever forgive his dad for what he did? Would this situation be considered more horrifying and wrong if Chuck was catfishing anyone else? I Love You Dad doesn’t really ponder these questions at all and it makes for a strange, somewhat empty watch.
I Love My Dad is ultimately a game of extremes and it pushes the limits of what the audience might be able to endure. There are plenty of scenes that are rightfully played for laughs, including Chuck’s interactions with his co-worker (Lil Rel Howery) and girlfriend (Rachel Dratch), but there’s something distasteful about Chuck sexting with his son and the extremes he goes to just to be in his son’s life. It doesn’t work as a comedy particularly because the laughs are few and far between. Chuck and Franklin’s interactions are more along the lines of sad, cruel, disheartening, and angering rather than humorous, and it throws off the film’s entire tone.
Oswalt plays Chuck with zero chill, wildly flailing about in a bid to ensure his constant, stalkery presence in his son’s life. His performance makes for a few memorable scenes that showcase his talents with physical humor and his deadpan line delivery also makes for some amusing moments. Morosini’s performance as Franklin is vulnerable and raw, with the actor showing visible changes in his mental and physical state depending on who he’s talking to. He’s closed off with his father for obvious reasons, but he opens up immensely when he thinks he’s talking to Becca. His father’s actions are all the more disturbing considering how fragile Franklin is after his attempted suicide and it greatly affects how funny I Love My Dad ends up being (which is not very). Is it a well-made film? Absolutely, and Morosini has a strong vision for how to shape a story and characters right out of the gate. Unfortunately, that doesn’t turn I Love My Dad into a must-watch.
I Love My Dad had its premiere at the SXSW Film Festival on March 12, 2022. The film is 90 minutes long and is not yet rated.