Movie: World's Greatest Dad

World's Greatest Dad is an extremely dark comedy starring Robin Williams.  The movie centers around Lance, an unsuccessful writer who's dream is to become famous, reach a broad audience and make money while doing so.  Lance has tried to publish five different novels, each time being rejected by publishing companies.  Instead, Lance has had to settle for teaching poetry class at a high school.  Lance is a single father who's son Kyle is a stereotypical jerk of a teen.  Lance tries to be a good father but Kyle's poor actions often result in hardship for Lance. 

Eventually Kyle kills himself in an embarrassing way.  Distraught, Lance creates a more bearable suicide setting and in the heat of the moment writes a deep suicide letter that sets the stage for a plethora of changes in his life.  Suddenly everyone at the high school who hated Kyle can relate to him and overall things turn pretty positive for Lance.  As Lance tries to continue to shroud the truth by spinning webs of lies, things start to get out of hand and perhaps a bit too surreal.

This movie uses a lot of symbolism and especially a great deal of irony.  With any dark comedy, there's a fair amount of shock or appalling scenarios.  The film may be a bit predictable and of course it doesn't contain the slapstick hilarity that is often expected of Robin Williams, but overall it is pretty funny when considering the ironic situations that are infused throughout.  It is currently available streaming on Netflix.  I would recommend it to fans of dark comedies, but it definitely isn't for everyone.