I Love My Dad Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

I Love My Dad Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf January 5, 2023

While it carries a friendly title, “I Love My Dad” is a dark comedy about parental extremes, with writer/director/star James Morosini taking viewers on quite a ride with the material, which is shaped from a true story. The helmer spotlights the bad instincts and big heart of a father who doesn’t understand right from wrong, generating an exploration of askew guardianship from a desperate man doing anything, I mean anything, to spend some time relearning how to engage with his emotionally fragile son. “I Love My Dad” hits a few farcical highs and some profoundly emotional lows, and while Morosini doesn’t always maintain command of the feature’s tone, he takes some interesting storytelling risks with the picture, which results in some major laughs and plenty of wincing along the way, making it one of the more appealingly stranger films of the year.

Franklin (James Morosini) is a young man fresh out of a stint at a mental health facility, trying to rebuild his life after a suicide attempt. He has a mother in Diane (Amy Landecker), who loves him, while his father, Chuck (Patton Oswalt), is a distant memory, with Franklin working to sever ties with an untrustworthy man who lives to tell lies. Fearful of being completely shut out of Franklin’s life, Chuck goes to extremes to maintain contact, eventually deciding to assume the identity of Becca (Claudia Sulewski), a diner server, creating a social media page to connect with his son, who’s surprised by the sudden female attention. Matters escalate when Chuck, posing as Becky, shows romantic interest in Franklin through messaging, which electrifies the young man, who’s newly determined to meet his mystery girlfriend in person. For Chuck, the road trip there is prime bonding time with his boy, only to spend the majority of the journey juggling identities as Franklin tries to get closer to Becca.

“I Love My Dad” includes a sharp summation of Chuck’s complicated personality, introduced as a father who’s recently found a dog for his young son, delighted to keep the canine because it makes his kid happy, carefully working to take down “lost dog” signs on the street as the pair return home. It’s quite a way to bring Chuck into view, with Franklin soon reappearing as an older teenager just released from a mental health facility, showing shyness around girls and caution around his mother, establishing the character as someone who’s been through a major emotional event, trying to learn how to be himself once again. “I Love My Dad” also identifies Franklin’s relationship with Chuck, making a direct effort to shut down any contact, which frustrates the estranged father, who doesn’t understand exactly why his boy would treat him so coldly.

The story finds its footing with the creation of Becca, who once charmed Chuck at a diner, and is now the face of his online invention, manufacturing a kind, curious female to reconnect with Franklin, who doesn’t know how to process such attention. Instead of simply gaining access to his son’s social media page, Chuck finds himself in command of a runaway situation of romantic interest, frantically trying to engage with Franklin through messaging and texting. Morosini creates a delightful atmosphere of madness with the midsection of “I Love My Dad,” and he creates a smart visual representation of the ruse, with the fake Becca appearing to Franklin in fantasy moments, identifying the boy’s excitement, which leads to confessions and intimacies Chuck is unprepared to handle. There’s extraordinary discomfort in play here, but also a twisted sense of purpose, as Chuck denies the ugliness of the situation, clinging to a shred of hope as he enjoys interacting with his kid for the first time in forever.

I Love My Dad Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (2.00:1 aspect ratio) presentation explores tighter close-ups with excellent detail, exploring anxious and shocked reactions, along with various skin particulars from different ages. Clothing is fibrous, and interiors highlight clear decoration with office and domestic environments. Exteriors secure proper dimension. Colors are compelling, with a warmer sense of intimacy emerging from lighting sources. Primaries are crisp on clothing, while more varied hues are found with festive events. Greenery is distinct. Skin tones are natural. Delineation is satisfactory.

I Love My Dad Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix delivers a direct sense of dialogue exchanges, tracking intense voiceover and delicate fantasy activity, balanced sharply with argumentative behavior. Voices are clear and nuanced. Scoring supports comfortably, delivering suspenseful surges and softer accompaniment, which feed into the surrounds. Soundtrack selections and electro pop offerings are pronounced, providing some deep low-end thump and circular engagement. Atmospherics are appreciable.

I Love My Dad Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There is no supplementary material on this release.

I Love My Dad Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The psychological elements of "I Love My Dad" are interesting (Chuck almost enjoys the heated gamesmanship of the increasingly twisted situation), and Morosini has a nice handle on the absurdity of the subterfuge, trying to play the realism of such wrongheaded behavior. Oswalt and Morosini are excellent as the father and son, and welcome support is offered by Lil Rel Howery, playing Chuck's disgusted co-worker (a voice of reason Chuck is skilled at ignoring), and Rachel Dratch, who steals scenes as his highly sexual workplace girlfriend who's up for everything, but has little patience for Chuck's schemes. Comedy is there for the taking throughout the picture, but the feature eventually explores a heavier side to the scam, and the production fumbles such tricky tonal balance, making room for bouts of darkness while Morosini works to revive a sillier side to the odyssey. Some scenes whiff in the movie, but "I Love My Dad" miraculously doesn't fall to pieces, sustaining a rich sense of illness and nervousness, which builds to some outrageous near misses featuring two compellingly damaged people fighting to be understood in all the wrong ways.