I Love My Dad (2022)

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If you’ve ever dabbled with anything social online then you probably know the word “catfish”. Maybe you’ve been catfished (or maybe you’ve done the dirty deed) yourself. But it might apply to the film I Love My Dad, which sells itself as a cringe sex comedy but is, in reality, something else entirely. What might have been just another nauseating comedy suggesting incest is actually a fairly insensitive one about exploiting mental illness to make up for absentee parenting.

James Morosini, performing triple-duty as writer/director and co-star, says his film is loosely based on real events where his own father catfished him online, but I can only hope the real thing didn’t wander into the darker territories it does here.

Chuck (Patton Oswalt) is desperate after being completely ghosted online by his estranged son Franklin (James Morosini), his only insight to Franklin’s life gleaned by stalking his online profiles. That avenue now taken from him, Chuck enters a diner and chances upon Becca (Claudia Sulewski), a waitress whose only crime is being kind to Chuck.

Desperate to reconnect with Franklin, Chuck remembers a story his coworker Jimmy (Lil Rel Howery) tells him about how to circumvent getting blocked online: just make a newer, faker account pretending to be someone else. He decides to do just that by creating a fake “Becca” online using pictures of the real Becca – even stealing her name – and sends Franklin a friend request, which he immediately accepts.

The fake Becca and Franklin quickly hit it off, Chuck exploiting his knowledge of Franklin to manipulate his son into trusting his new online friend even more intimately. When Franklin begins to question whether Becca is real Chuck is permitted by his ex-wife (Amy Landecker) to embark on a father and son roadtrip to meet the “real” Becca. Soon two relationships play out: one between “Becca” and Franklin, lovers, the other between Chuck and Franklin, father and son. From here things don’t just go down some freaky rabbit holes; it descends very quickly into the pits of hell.

Rather than show us an endless stream of text messages we actually see both Franklin and “Becca” together in the same scene, acting out their virtual conversations as though they were actually happening. One of the film’s odder choices is letting us figure out this is happening for ourselves, letting us become comfortable seeing what should be an incredibly unseemly situation – before ripping the bandaid off and showing how disturbing it really is. We’ve seen this hindsight trick countless times, but never quite like here.

The cast is excellent across the board, though Lil Rel Howery is, once again, miscast in a role that doesn’t belong anywhere near this movie. Oswalt is fantastic playing a desperate character the kind the late Robin Williams would have relished. At first glance Morosini looks and sounds like a younger Jake Gyllenhaal, but considering his workload he does well as a son being tricked by his dad putting him through sexually uncomfortable territory.

Claudia Sulewski is the real MVP, though, playing dual roles as the real and fake Becca, having to act out the desperate virtual relationship onscreen as though it were actually happening. Known mostly for her online socials, this could be a breakout performance for Sulewski as this is the type of role that could have easily starred Aubrey Plaza in another universe.

Is Chuck a good man doing bad things – or a man incapable of not doing bad things? There’s a huge suspension of disbelief necessary to make all these pieces work together, sometimes having to ignore the central premise: like why these characters are smart enough to recognize that Franklin’s being catfished (including Franklin himself) but never really questioning it. Given its message, I was surprised there wasn’t commentary how loneliness and desperation can make us do things we ordinarily wouldn’t.

Nevertheless, I Love My Dad is a well-made film based on an irredeemable premise that, to its credit, never lets you sympathize with Chuck for too long. What he’s doing to his son, whatever his intentions might be, may be the worst thing he’s ever done, especially given Franklin’s fragile mental state. There was never a moment when I felt comfortable watching things play out, never once was I able to forget how fast and loose it plays with the fragility of mental illness in service to the comedy. It’s a hard film to like, despite itself.