I Love My Dad is distributed by Plaion Pictures. The film stars Patton Oswalt, James Morosini, Claudia Sulewski, Lil Rel Howery, Rachel Dratch, Amy Landecker & Ricky Velez. Directed by James Morosini. The film will be released across UK Digital Platforms from 23rd January 2023.
Synopsis
Inspired by writer, director, and star James Morosini’s true life experience, I Love My Dad follows Chuck (Patton Oswalt), a hopelessly estranged father who desperately wants to reconnect with his troubled son, Franklin (Morosini). Blocked on social media and concerned for his son’s life, Chuck impersonates a waitress online and starts checking in with Franklin. But things begin to spiral when Franklin falls for this imaginary girl (Claudia Sulewski) and wants nothing more than to meet her in person, as Chuck has inadvertently catfished his own son.
Review
Comedies are probably amongst my favourite genre of film (that and action) so when a new comedy drops in my inbox I do get a little excited. I Love My Dad is a cringe comedy for the modern age, the film centres around Chuck (Patton Oswalt) as he tried his very best to right the wrongs of the past and make it up to his son Franklin (James Morosini) but the events that transpires result in catastrophe for Franklin but the actions are genuinely from good intentions of Chuck to just make things right.
Becoming tired of Chuck’s ongoing let downs and lies Franklin decides to block Chuck from his life physically and digitally, thinking about his own mental health for a change, this crushes Chuck leaving him trying to find a way of getting back in touch with his son. Having tried everything Chuck is all set to give up all hope, that is until he is give the idea of setting up a fake profile online. This hair brained idea actually seems to have worked but one thing that Chuck didn’t allow for was that Franklin falls in love with Chuck’s online alias and with Chuck so desperate to keep his son in his life he has to keep the lie alive, the longer it goes on the worse this lie becomes.
On the whole I found the film a good watch, taking you through a spectrum of emotions as you are taken on a cringe worthy journey with a hapless father trying his upmost best to make things right with his son but not doing things the right way. You can’t help but love the character of Chuck he may make wrong decisions but his heart is in the right place, I personally felt that the on screen chemistry between Chuck and Franklin’s character added a level of realism to the film as their father and son relationship really came off well on screen.
This is the first time I have come across James Morosini as a director and was impressed with the first impressions, I don’t think it will win any Oscars but felt like I did get enjoyment from watching the film.
Verdict
I enjoyed the film, thought it did the job in bringing this comedy to the screen, found it difficult to believe it actually happened it’s a story that you really would hope it wouldn’t happen in real life. A film that will make you cringe in every scene so much so you feel sorry for Franklin but you just can’t help but love Chuck.
⭐️⭐️⭐️½
