James Morosini, the writer/director/star of I Love My Dad, claims his dark comedy is based on a true story. It is alarming gambit, since it depicts a disturbing relationship where a codependent father manipulates his son in ways that should put him on some kind of list. But what is sneaky and ultimately appealing about the film is how Morosini couches each outrageous plot development with a sense of plausibility. How could a father end up sexting his own son, who is hiding in the bathroom to masturbate? How could multiple adults, aware of this twisted manipulation, allow it to happen? This film has those answers, and something more: sneaky truths about the appeal of being online.
When we meet Franklin (Morosini), he is in a group therapy session talking about his father. He is deeply aware of his father’s obsession with him, so he blocked him on all social media. This outrages Chuck (Patton Oswalt), who is desperate to be involved in Franklin’s life. Left with no recourse, Chuck gets an idea from his colleague Jimmy (Lil Rel Howery), who made a joke about creating alternative social media profiles when exes break up with him. Why can’t Chuck do the same thing? He meets a cute girl named Becca (Claudia Sulewski) at the diner he frequents, and through some sleuthing, Chuck finds her social media profiles. Now with all the tools he needs, Chuck catfishes Franklin as Becca, which leads down some roads he certainly did not expect.
I Love My Dad correctly realizes there is nothing cinematic about two people sending DMs to one another. So Morosini finds a clever way to dramatize them: instead of two men hunched over their phones and laptops, we see Sulewski and Morosini dramatize their online conversation (i.e. she interprets Chuck’s messages as “Becca”). This allows us to see Franklin’s fantasy: Becca is not just pretty and eager, but the kind of girl next door type who does not exist anywhere. As Franklin develops a relationship with his new online friend, the script turns the screws on Chuck. Pretty soon Franklin wants to video chat, or at least talk over the phone, so how can Chuck perpetuate this lie? He is admittedly clever, leveraging whatever tools he can until Franklin is not just smitten. He’s in love.
There is no getting around that this situation is awkward. Morosini and Oswalt do not lose their nerve, using the fantasy conceit to highlight what Chuck thinks about. There are several back-and-forth reversals where Franklin imagines himself hooking up with Becca, while Chuck has no choice but to imagine the same, leading to a several gross-out moments. Still, the term “cringe comedy” does not quite apply because I Love My Dad has sympathy for its flawed characters, not scorn, showing the humanity that informs each implausible situation. This is not a film about ridicule, but compassion. Chuck’s ex-wife (Amy Landecker) and girlfriend (Rachel Dratch) add to the compassion because they do not behave like characters in an outrageous comedy, but experienced women who act when they sense something is wrong.
The ending to this film is inevitable – there is no way Franklin could stay in the dark – although Morosini includes just enough carefully observed surprises to make us gasp. Aside from the aforementioned fantasy gags in I Love My Dad, Morosini finds humor by letting Oswalt and the supporting cast handle the material like it’s a serious drama, which helps make it funnier. Oswalt is no stranger to this approach, as he played a similar sad sack in the underseen dark comedy Big Fan, and here he wisely avoids judging Chuck. He is a sad, desperate man, and not without his reasons. Both he and Franklin grow a little from this unfortunate catfishing episode, ultimately making them closer than either would care to admit. When you realize someone else is your kind of weird, that common ground can create a bond, although it’s probably best to forget how you first got there.
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