"World's Greatest Dad" - a Metaphor for Itself (in that "its writer isn't the one you feel for")
@mythociate (21432)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
March 17, 2022 6:13am CST
Robin Williams starred in a movie in 2009 ... it wasn't 'his last movie,' but maybe it---maybe it should be 'thought of' as his last movie; I'm sure his work after that movie was fine (I've only seen his turn as Teddy Roosevelt in NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM's sequel &--tho I didn't notice him--iMDb says he was in Shrek), but the message from World's Greatest Dad is the one that ought to be 'taken as' his last message (like the words they 'took as' the dad's "last words" in that episode of how i met your mother)
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000245/?nmdp=1&ref_=nm_ql_4#filmography
But--and stop reading here if you don't want SPOILERS--I'm kind of confirming the sad lesson of the movie; because--as powerful as Robin Williams' performance was (and I'm sure he ad-libbed some powerful stuff in there)--HE DIDN'T WRITE IT!
The story goes, his teenage son is a loner & a p{rv{rt who kills himself doing auto-er0tic asphyxiation---I don't think I need tell you what that is, but suffice it to say that it's so shameful that the father thought it was a good idea to write a suicide-note, put it in his son's front pocket, and leave his already-dead body hanging from a noose to make it look like a normal suicide.
But the suicide-note got leaked to the boy's school-mates, who thought it was so moving that they sought out more of "his" writing (which the father faked up). The journal got published into a book, which inspired thousands NOT to commit suicide & earned the boy all kinds of 'signs of devotion' from his former classmates (banners posted around the school, tattoos of his portrait, etc.) and a memorial library in his name.
I won't ruin the ending, but mostly because it ... isn't "an ending" really (although the text THE END appears on the screen).
No ... the message hit home because--I think it was after THE END--some more text on the screen tells us that the movie was written & directed by ... BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT (you might remember him as 'the long-haired, randomly-shrieking cop from the POLICE ACADEMY movies). The whole movie, I was thinking it was 'Robin Williams dealing with things that might've inspired HIS suicide'; when really it was 'Robin Williams portraying Bobcat Goldthwait (whom iMDB says is still alive) dealing with such matters!'
2 people like this
1 response
@sharonelton (28700)
• Lichfield, England
17 Mar 22
That's Robin Williams? I thought it looked a bit like Rod Stewart in the picture!
@sharonelton (28700)
• Lichfield, England
18 Mar 22
@mythociate That's better! I really liked him in Mork and Mindy.
1 person likes this
@mythociate (21432)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
18 Mar 22
@sharonelton I liked him most in HOOK.
1 person likes this