If only Nev Schulman could get a load of this one. In the new trailer for the upcoming comedy I Love My Dad, Patton Oswalt stars as middle-aged dad Chuck Green, who finds himself trying to stay in contact with his fragile and estranged son Franklin (writer-director James Morosini) after he blocks him on social media. In a desperately wayward attempt to check in on Franklin, Chuck ends up catfishing his son vis-à-vis a Facebook profile for a charmingly age-appropriate brunette named Becca Thompson.
Although somewhat unintentionally, the idea to create Becca originally comes from Chuck’s coworker Jimmy (Lil Rel Howery, the sidekick to end all sidekicks). After Chuck laments about his recent exile from Franklin’s social media, Jimmy recalls the time he created a fake Facebook account after his ex-girlfriend blocked him, allowing him to lurk on her profile. Per Jimmy, the former paramour “never even knew.” Before taking a beat to consider the slippery slope of faking a romance with your own flesh and blood, Chuck is selecting sunny selfies for “Becca’s” Facebook profile and convincing a female friend (Rachel Dratch) to act as his Gen-Z alter-ego on phone calls with Franklin.
“This is incest,” Jimmy bluntly tells Chuck at one point (hey, everyone was thinking it). “No, it’s not!” Chuck defensively shoots back. “I’m doing this to help him!” Chuck may be confident his head is in the right place, but when the time comes to “internet kiss” his lovelorn son, words prove to be as viscerally uncomfortable as actions. If Chuck’s clandestine mission to connect with his son really is right, then why does it look and feel so wrong?
Claudia Sulewski plays the willowy, bright-eyed version of Becca that Franklin imagines himself speaking to, and Amy Landecker and Ricky Velez round out the cast.
I Love My Dad hits theaters on August 5 before becoming available on-demand on August 12. Watch it over a drink with your dad—or maybe, don’t.