I Love My Dad
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: August 5, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
9
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
95
Film ThreatBobby LePireMar 17, 2022
While it is not for everyone, those who can stomach the admittedly cringey, well everything about the plot, will find much to love. Read full review
90
IGNSiddhant AdlakhaAug 4, 2022
James Morosini’s shockingly funny I Love My Dad builds on the actor-director’s real-life tale of being catfished by his distant father. The story is told from the point of view of his dad, a character played with hilarious desperation by comedian Patton Oswalt, resulting in a bizarre act of cinematic empathy that’s as moving as it is intense. Read full review
90
SlashfilmEthan AndertonMar 15, 2022
There's a big beating heart at the center of the movie that keeps you close to the ground and makes it an absolute triumph of twisted humor and love. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comNick AllenAug 5, 2022
I Love My Dad is the kind of story that doesn’t overthink what makes it so laugh-out-loud funny, but there’s a whole lot of ugly, extremely human things going on each time its comedy makes you cover your eyes. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawJan 19, 2023
However grotesquely culpable Chuck has been, you find yourself wanting to hug him. It’s a clever comic trick to bring off. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayAug 2, 2022
This is a weird and wonderfully expansive story, adroitly executed by Morosini with the compassion to mine it for humanism rather than droll, oddball quirk. By putting viewers inside the strangeness of what happened to him, he provides the audience the rare privilege of genuinely laughing with his characters instead of at them. Read full review
75
ColliderRoss BonaimeApr 6, 2022
I Love You Dad has its heart in the right place with its cringey narrative and story of how much forgiveness those who love us truly deserve. Read full review
75
The Film StageJohn FinkMar 20, 2022
I Love My Dad is as funny as it is mortifying, with Oswalt as a kind of sociopathic Cyrano de Bergerac justifying his behavior in the name of becoming closer to his son. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayAug 12, 2022
Together, Morosini and Oswalt capture the panic that seizes some parents when they see their kids slipping into despair. They sensitively dramatize one father’s fear that everything he does to make things better will permanently ruin everything — though that doesn’t stop him from blundering ahead anyway. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMar 15, 2022
Gently funny and much more forgiving than viewers might expect, the picture plays to Oswalt’s strengths and may resonate uncomfortably for parents worried about protecting their digital-native children without suffocating them or, worse, creating entirely new problems. Read full review
68
Paste MagazineAurora AmidonMar 15, 2022
The film pushes itself to extremes like a broad and black comedy would, but isn’t quite enough of one to come across as anything but cruel. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMar 15, 2022
It may not resonate as anything deeper than a modern satire of the idea that father knows best, but it leans into its high-wire act with the fearlessness of a movie that knows just how fraught it can be to connect with anyone these days. Read full review
65
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiAug 5, 2022
Whether you laugh with I Love My Dad or never shake the queasy feeling in your stomach, Morosini’s film is remarkably sensitive and eerily confessional. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 25, 2022
The clever touch here is having Franklin imagine, in his mind, Becca actually there with him as they’re having these chats. Read full review
60
Screen DailyWendy IdeMar 17, 2022
Unshowy and functional in his directorial approach, Morosini wisely keeps it light. Read full review
60
VarietyPeter DebrugeMar 15, 2022
[Morosini] holds back the personal stuff you can tell a stranger but not your dad — the kind of material good comedians build their shows around — making the result feel like a sitcom more than a brutally honest movie. Read full review
58
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzAug 7, 2022
The director fumbles frequently, but at least he is confident enough in his uneven vision to push through all (warranted) doubts and deliver a story that is every bit awful as it is uncompromising. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubMark KeizerAug 2, 2022
Morosini, though, is smart enough to know that just grossing us out for 95 minutes is not a movie. So he tries to make his film dramatically credible. This proves more difficult, as he has nothing new or insightful to say about father-son relationships or the pernicious possibilities of social media. But managing to push the squirm-inducing envelope while still getting us to root for a reprehensible dad becomes its own sort of twisted achievement. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 4, 2022
Occasionally creative but mostly distasteful and thuddingly unfunny, this is the kind of story that asks us to take wild leaps of faith at every turn—and then buy into a redemption story arc that is neither plausible nor earned. Read full review
50
Original-CinLiam LaceyAug 3, 2022
What works as edgy comedy is determined by what you can get away with. Having introduced depression and virtual incest, I Love My Dad just isn’t adroit enough to find a credible happy ending escape hatch. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAug 3, 2022
The premise of I Love My Dad is so icky that the film’s writer, director, and co-star, James Morosini, lets viewers know at the very outset that its plot is based on a true story, thus automatically rendering it more palatable. Read full review
50
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiMar 16, 2022
Is it a well-made film? Absolutely, and Morosini has a strong vision for how to shape a story and characters right out of the gate. Unfortunately, that doesn’t turn I Love My Dad into a must-watch. Read full review
40
The New York TimesGlenn KennyAug 4, 2022
Since the audience is in on the scheme from the start, what we get is excruciating, uncut. But not too excruciating, because Franklin is such a drab cipher it’s hard to work up much empathy for him. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyAug 3, 2022
Emotionally, the movie is a mess. It can be even messier tonally. As storytelling, though, “Dad” moves right along. Viewers may look away at times, but they don’t look at their watches. Read full review
33
The PlaylistJason BaileyMar 15, 2022
I Love My Dad cannot overcome its off-putting premise. Nothing is out of bounds, of course (especially in comedy), but if there’s an approach to make the material palatable, either played straight or broad, it is left undiscovered here. Read full review
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