I Love My Dad

By: Kelly Kearney

Premiering at the SXSW Film Festival last weekend, writer/director/star James Morosini’s real life story about the time his father catfished him struck a cringe-worthy chord with critics and viewers alike. I Love My Dad follows a familiar trope (one we so often see in the indie-film genre) where parents and kids grapple with their strifes and estrangements for a satisfying reconciliation in a hundred minutes or less. It’s your a typical coming of age story with a not-so typical spin thanks to Patton Oswalt’s character Chuck and his terrible idea full of good intentions. The lengths Chuck (and we can only assume Morosini’s real life father) goes to in this American High feature will leave you suspicious and slightly traumatized by every friend request and Tinder match that hits your notifications.

The film, based on Morosini’s unimaginably ick-experience with own father follows Patton Oswalt’s Chuck, a divorced absentee dad to a depressed teen named Franklin (James Morosini). Chuck wasn’t always a bad dad, as we see in flashbacks from happier times with the family dog and sharing meals at their local diner. However, after the divorce separated the family of three Chuck put in minimal effort with Franklin. Everything seemed to come before his son and, as Franklin matured, he started to realize his father was nothing more than a lazy, lying cheat. After the depressed teen attempts suicide Franklin decides some self-care is in order and blocks his no-show Dad from contacting him. Getting blocked can be an emotional kick to anyone’s gut, but for Chuck it launches his creativity into overdrive. Taking some sage advice from his co-worker and funny-man Jimmy (Lil Rel Howery), we see Chuck agree it’s time he invests his time in a hobby. This leads him to make a fake social media profile based on a real-life diner waitress, Becca (Claudia Sulewksi). A friendly and youthful face is a guaranteed accept in any teen’s inbox and Franklin is no different. From the moment he adds the friendly waitress from Carl’s Kountry Kitchen, things take a turn for the outrageous. It’s not long before Franklin falls head over heels in love with Becca who, lucky for the audience, is the visual stand in for Chuck’s texts. As Becca and Franklin’s relationship grows the only guy who knows the truth is Jimmy, who under duress helps his friend Chuck navigate this lie through the choppy waters of Gen Z’s social media world.

Unfortunately for Chuck, Becca’s continued efforts to deflect Franklin’s attempts for a video chat leads the teen to do what any guy whose never had a girlfriend would do – he plans a surprise visit without her consent. Lacking a car and a drivers license to get him there and without the support of his suspicious mother (Amy Landecker), Franklin asks his father to drive him to meet the girl of his dreams. It’s the first time Chuck’s son reaches out to him and, ignoring the logistics for a moment, he jumps at the chance to take the road trip. Predictably, or maybe not so considering what happens next, things get very weird…fast. Sure, father and son have some bonding time where Chuck teaches Franklin to drive and the two sort of make up for lost time, but things turn heated when a sexy moment between Becca and Franklin forces Chuck to choose between coming clean with his son or going all-in on their adult themed chats.

Throughout the film Chuck manages to keep the texting G-rated until one night in a motel on the road trip Franklin starts sexting Becca. Sitting in the other room talking to his girlfriend Erica (Rachel Dratch), we watch as Chuck uses the hypersexualized girl boss as the inspiration for Becca’s responses. Normally, that would be a line too far to cross on film, but I Love My Dad sets that line on fire and then pours gasoline on it – relishing its flames and spreading it until the ultimate reveal that goes about as awful as expected.

Did the imagery go too far? Probably, but pushing aside all the shock and stomach-turning awe moments, this is a story of a father who’s willing to risk it all to make up for his mistakes and how often do we see that in a landscape full of hypermasculine men who only cry in war films and when their dogs die? It’s rare to see fathers on screen showing their vulnerabilities and it’s even rarer when it’s delivered by a comedian, but Patton Oswalt continues to surprise me with the deaths of his acting abilities. As Chuck he often leaves the funniest moments in this film to the brilliant Rachel Dratch and her somewhat sadistic sexual appetites that leave you wondering why we don’t see more of her in comedies. Likewise Lil Rel Howery, who probably speaks for the viewers when he freaks out and screams “INCEST” over Becca and Franklin’s online kiss, sprinkles in some sidesplitting moments that helps to lighten up Oswalt’s constant turmoil.

As for the direction, Morosini manages to blur the line between fantasy best in the climactic scene where Erica and Chuck’s ex-wife discover his secret. As the walls close in on Chuck, his mind ricochets through the past, present and the death of his own estranged father, ending the film in a way that offers hope for the misguided Chuck and all the dads out there who mess up and try too hard to make things right. Absent of dialogue but filled with the swelling sounds of a brass led orchestra, the camera work in that revelation displays Chuck’s feelings of suffocation, not just from his panic attack that causes him to keel over in front of his son but in how he’s being strangled by his own web of lies. He’s trapped and he has nobody blame but himself. It leaves you almost feeling sorry for Chuck and that’s mostly thanks to Oswalt’s performance and the direction of Morosini. For all of its bad ideas, at least the film manages to tie things up in a hopeful way. After all, Morosini got over his trauma, became an actor, writer and director, proving emotional wounds are survivable and it can even act as inspiration.

So, is I Love My Dad worth sitting through the cringey moments just to get to the meat of his coming-of-age dramedy? That depends on what your triggers are. Women who’ve been stalked, victims of online harassment, survivors of incest or those whose hearts were ripped to shreds in a catfishing scheme might want to skip this one. But if you can look past the touchy subject matter and strap in for the really weird and bumpy ride, then give it a try. I know I laughed more than I screamed “I NEED TO BLEACH MY EYES!” You might even get the urge to call your father; right after you block those new friend requests.