It’s impossible not to do a bit of a double take when hearing the premise forJames Morosini’s new film,I Love My Dad. An estranged father is so desperate to reconnect with his son that he catfishes him. For those unfamiliar with the term: he uses a fake social media profile of the opposite sex to communicate with the teen. Obviously, things quickly spiral out of control, as the son, Franklin, begins to develop feelings for “Becca” - aka his father.
As one might guess from such a premise, Morosini’s film is imbued withextreme levels of cringeantics that go from slightly uncomfortable to downright unbearable at times. It is, to both the amusement and detriment of the viewer, masterfully edited, quickly allowing us to switch between Chuck and Franklin’s perspectives and synthesize the insanity of what Chuck is doing. We frequently see Franklin fantasizing about the “real” Becca, only to cut to Chuck desperately plugging away at his phone. It doesn’t stop there - Morosini continually pushes the boundaries of just how far Chuck is willing to go, and how much the audience is willing to take. At one point, we witness him sink to the level of sexting his son.
One might be inclined to think thatI Hate My Dadmay have been a more suitable title for such a film. How can a relationship be mended after such a bizarre and catastrophic event? But that is what makes Morosini’s feature so empowering and thoughtful at its core - it is able to see beyond the black and whiteness of things, and shows how love can drive us towards actions outside the purview of the socially acceptable. Even if they’re still crazy.I Love My Dadis an intentionally cringy, yet deeply heartfelt and vulnerable portrait of a complicated father-son relationship. For a film about catfishing, it will pull at your heartstrings as much as it makes you laugh uncontrollably and oh-so nervously.
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James Morosini’s Real Experience Put to Screen
I Love My Dadis evidently avery special film for Morosini- for reasons other than it being his first widely-distributed feature. As viewers are made aware in the film’s opening frame,I Love My Dadis based off of Morosini’s own experience in a similar situation with his father. The movie is so much more than an outlandish riff on a fictional father-son relationship - it was a tool for Morosini to reflect on and heal from his own past. Even if Morosini used his truth to extrapolate a more evolved story, the heart ofI Love My Dadis deeply personal and beats for Morosini.
Morosini tells his story with great confidence and style. It’s hard to imagine another director with less stake in the story having been able to pull off such a feat, accomplishing such a perfect balance in tone throughout the film. Morosini stars in the feature as Franklin, the emotionally troubled stand-in for his younger self. Just like his father on the adult side, Franklin is no caricature of a lonely teenager. The movie opens with Franklin leaving rehab after a recent suicide attempt, and we sense a true vulnerability within his character. He plays off perfectly with both Oswalt’s character, the lonely father figure, as well as Becca, played by the wonderful Claudia Sulewski. Morosini has re-imagined his own past in a way that is authentic as much as it is riveting, giving us characters that are so sympathetic because they always feel so real.
Social Media Isolates As Much as Connects Us
Although social media, of course, is not to blame for Chuck’s outrageous actions, Morosini’s film is sympathetic to the loneliness it has engendered throughout our culture. There is not a character inI Love My Dadwho is not profoundly affected by it in some way, living at least a small portion of their lives vicariously through the screen. This goes for Franklin and Chuck, as well as side characters, such as Chuck’s coworker, with whom he finds himself in a romantic entanglement.
Social media allows us to hide behind a front of our own construction. InMorosini’s words toNewsweek, “When you look back at the first your first posts you ever made on Facebook or Instagram, they kill you, because you see so clearly the kind of person that you thought other people would like.” Morosini’s film deftly explores these themes of what it means to put on a front for other people, and how tempting social media makes this appear. All the characters, in their own way, are entranced by the screen; it lets them lose touch with themselves. For Chuck, this means getting closer with his son; for Franklin, it means becoming more confident while talking to the girl of his dreams.I Love My Dadis not a polemic against social media, but rather a touching reminder that we are not alone in the isolation it instills in us.
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When it comes to expressing their love towards their children, most parents do not opt for catfishing. Chuck’s actions are by no means presented as excusable; his closest friend, played by analways-amusing Lil Rel Howery, constantly warns Chuck about the danger of what he’s doing. He helps us, if not Chuck, understand that his actions entail repercussions from the real world as well as his family. It takes one type of person to do what Chuck does - it takes another kind of person to prolong it.
But Chuck is not the villain in this story. That would be a far simpler film. Oswalt’s character repeatedly makes mistakes to estrange himself from his son, and he genuinely feels that catfishing is a last resort. Chuck’s actions are not those of a creep or certified sociopath, but rather a struggling father who makes a terrible decision to stay connected to his son. Morosinireflects on the event: “It was us hitting that rock bottom in our relationship, but it forced us to confront some of the foundational problems of our relationship and actually caused things between him and I to get a lot better over time, because we had to talk about it."
I Love My Dadshows us the things that come out of love that are hard to talk about. It’s a cringe-inducing account of a touching story, reminding us of the great power of empathy and second chances.
