I Love My Dad is based on writer/director/star James Morosini’s true experience of being catfished by his dad. His overbearing, manipulative dad just wanted to spend more time with him, but James blocked him for being… overbearing and manipulative. So, his dad posed as a young female waitress and started a ‘relationship’ with James on Facebook.
The situation was basically tailor-made for Hollywood, so it’s no surprise that James has gifted us with a cinematic retelling of the saga. Patton Oswalt plays his father and James plays himself in a film that’s small-scale, intimate, awkward, hilarious, and unironically endearing.
One of the films strengths is converting a one-joke premise into a feature film (no easy feat). Thankfully, Morosini mines comedy from a variety of sources – whether it’s the ‘imagine if people talked how they texted’ gimmick, or a hysterical faux-Hitchcockian suspense sequence… He doesn’t just repeat the joke that Patton Oswalt is catfishing him, which is a relief.
Unfortunately, there really isn’t a lot surprising about the story. The plot trajectory, while amusing, is still very standard. It’s well-done, padded out with fun jokes and supporting characters (notably Lil Rel Howery)… But once you get over the shock of the setup, it unfolds almost exactly like you’d expect.
Thankfully… Patton Oswalt.
Rating: 7.1 / 10
