The highly anticipated film from Magnolia Pictures, I Love My Dad, written and directed by James Morosini was the Opening Night Film for the North Bend Film Festival. I Love My Dad follows a young man Franklin (Morosini) and his estranged father, Chuck (Patton Oswalt), who has not been actively involved nor available to his son while growing up. The film recently world premiered at this year’s SXSW Film Festival and was well received. The feature film won the Grand Jury Prize for Narrative Feature and won the Narrative Feature Competition Audience Award.
Inspired by Morosini’s true life experience, I Love My Dad follows the actions taken by Chuck to reconnect with Franklin who has had mental health issues and after inpatient treatment has blocked his father on social media. He frequently made excuses for not attending events in the past. Now concerned for his son’s life, Chuck creates a fake social media account impersonating a young, attractive waitress online Becca (Claudia Sulewski) and follow his son’s activities. Chuck is not prepared to handle the situation when Franklin falls for his new female friend and plans to meet her in person.
It is incredible when the audience reads at the beginning of the film that the story is real in Morosini’s life and is one of those situations that leaves you thinking it is stranger-than-fiction. Chuck shares his personal woes about his son with a friend/co-worker, Jimmy (Lil Rel Howery, in a very brief role), who happens to share he once created a fake identity online. Chuck thinks that will work for him and Franklin and Jimmy does all he can to tell him that is not the way to go. What an unwise choice for a father to bond with his son. Patton’s performance is perfect to match these actions and makes one shiver in the theater seat to imagine this happening to a young person surviving fragile mental health issues.
There are some humorous scenes between Chuck and his girlfriend Erica (Rachel Dratch, “At Home with Amy Sedaris,” “Saturday Night Live” TV Series), which adds to the R rating.
I Love My Dad also stars Amy Landecker as Diane and Ricky Velez (The King of Staten Island).
Rated R for sexual content and language) Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes.
After the screening of the film at this festival August 4th, I Love My Dad opens in limited theaters. In Austin, TX, at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar on August 5th. Check listings for VOD on Aug. 12th
Source: Magnolia Pictures