SXSW 2022: I LOVE MY DAD: Just How Much Cringe Can You Take?

Writer/director James Morosini did warn us in the opening credits, but even that wasn’t enough to prepare me for the uncomfortable cringe comedy that is I Love My Dad. So much of it is too icky to watch that part of me wants to call it quits and recommend the average viewer to skip past this when it eventually hits your streaming platform, where it’ll probably sit somewhere under the “Quirky Comedies” section. On the contrary, this is a film that insists on keeping its bizarre tone, all while walking a delicate line in terms of how we should be judging the characters. On some level, in terms of both writing and directing, you have to respect what Morosini is trying to do here. The craziest thing is everything that happens in the movie actually happened to him in real life (at least according to him, because his real-life dad denies it).

The Worst Dad in the World

Make no mistake, this dad is an easy contender for World’s Worst. Chuck (Patton Oswalt) was never there for his son Franklin. He makes excuses left and right and breaks nearly every promise he has ever made, and he’s not even the “workaholic” type where his job is preventing him from spending quality time with his child. With Chuck understanding that he has always been a terrible parent, he resorts to some obnoxious, even toxic methods at getting to his son. Call it a desperate, misguided attempt to reconnect. Well, Franklin (Morosini) is now in his twenties, dealing with clinical depression, and he has blocked his dad on social media. I mean, you would too if your father sends you five voicemails apologizing for his f*ck-up, only to then call you five more times to “check up on you.”

But we’re supposed to relate with Chuck here, at least on some level. He’s played with a clear sense of guilt and desire to mend things. So what does Chuck do? Of course, he creates a fictional profile to talk to his son. But of course, it can’t be that simple. Of course, that profile has to be a woman and not a man — in this case, a profile designed around a young waitress named Becca (Claudia Sulewski) who works at the local diner. And the conversations start and Franklin slowly opens up. And then one thing leads to another and… yeah… this is a movie about a father who inadvertently catfishes his own son.

Endearing? Inappropriate?

The one thing I Love My Dad does, again and again, is comment on its own absurdity to the audience. In some way, this approach allows for many moments to have a tinge of dark comedy to them. At the same time, maybe that is simply an excuse for the movie to get away with its content. Imagine being shown something inappropriate and cringeworthy, and then the presenter says “Isn’t this cringe?” That doesn’t always help.

Essentially the drive of the story is us wondering just how far is Chuck willing to maintain this lie to help his son feel again and reconnect with someone, all while wondering when will the son figure out the truth, because of course he will. Morosini stretches this premise out as far as he can, to the point where the second half of the film becomes a road-trip movie between father and son, as Franklin becomes desperate to meet this “Becca” in real life. Had it been more of a straightforward road-trip movie, I Love My Dad might have been able to rid itself of some repetitive beats and repetitive jokes that achieve the same reaction out of us.

What holds the film together is Oswalt’s performance. He brings the perfect balance between outrageous comedy and genuine heartbreak and regret. Chuck condemns himself for many of his past actions, and the film itself certainly does not forgive Chuck of everything either. There’s an admirable sense of distance in terms of judgment. Morosini wants us to understand Chuck and that all he wants is to fix what’s broken, but he also doesn’t shy away from showing us just how f*cked up this situation is.

But many times, Morosini’s directing decisions clash with what he wants to thematically achieve. With Chuck posing as Becca in his conversations with Frank, Morosini resorts to using Sulewski herself to physically speak and perform those messages. The idea is to see Sulewski and Morosini together in a scene so we can feel their physical chemistry together. But time and time again, it only brings to laser focus that it’s all an icky lie… and that the real Becca doesn’t have her own sense of identity or agency in all this. Despite Sulewski doing her very best in creating such a charismatic character in Becca, her every appearance (aside from a couple where Real Becca appears) reminds the audience that she’s literally being used to fulfill a male fantasy.

I Love My Dad: A Tender Father/Son Story Overshadowed by Surface Content

Your enjoyment of I Love My Dad completely depends on how much you’re willing to look past the surface-level content that’s constantly on the screen. Conceptually and thematically, this is a tender and endearing father/son relationship, and it’s always entertaining and enlightening to see a dysfunctional relationship slowly improve when both sides start to really see one another. Take Franklin’s depression, for example. Every time the script addresses that idea head-on and explores what Chuck’s actions could potentially do to Franklin, the film works.

Unfortunately, you have to absorb that while weeding through scenes of a dad literally having to sext his son, pretending to be the love of his life, plus “nightmare fantasy” sequences of father and son hitting on each other, touching each other seductively, and yes, kissing.

I Love My Dad could have been a great film. Sadly, with its over-leaning on the obscenities and outrage for comedic effort – and the looming fact that yes, this all apparently happened – we’re saddled with a competent, well-intentioned film that works better when being discussed than being watched.

What did you think of I Love My Dad? Let us know in the comments below!

I Love My Dad premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival on March 12, 2022.

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