Full disclosure, this is a rather convoluted story and this review will contain very minor spoilers, that will not go beyond what was included in the original synopsis. Those who are hypersensitive to info need only be aware that you should SEE THE FILM.

A sincere invitation sends 30-something Norval to his estranged father’s remote coastal cabin with hopes of reconciliation. Hope turns to panic, as he uncovers his father’s shady past and is forced to face his inherited demons.

Norval (Elijah Wood) disembarks from a bus and stands, roadside as it pulls away. Left on a small two-lane road in the middle of the redwoods along the California Coast, he treks to his final destination, the home of his estranged father that he has not seen in 35 years. What prompted the visit? A mysterious letter from his dad, telling him to come for a reunion. What transpires is a twisted, curvaceously plotted thriller comedy COME TO DADDY that refuses to relinquish all of its secrets until the bitter end.

Norval is a rather pretentious fellow. Stomping through the forest, he arrives on the doorstep of his father’s swanky coastal pad and is abruptly greeted by a grizzled, drunk (Stephen McHattie) that immediately showers him in the usual affection and insults. Trying to reconnect, Norval swaps stories and attempts to impress his father with tales of being a big wig in the music industry back home, producing events, knowing Elton John, and exuding prominence. This doesn’t exactly go over very well. That’s not to mention Norval’s abstinence from liquor that also works a growing divide between the two. Phoning his mother, Norval decides that it might be best if he ended the visit early. Oh, but where’s the fun in that? With one surprise after another, we are suddenly assaulted with fiendishly clever plot twists and revelations as Norval discovers far more than he wanted to about his dad while being inexorably pulled into a world that he seems genetically predisposed to live in.

Most of the action takes place at the posh, yet rustic home of Norval’s father. Along the way though we meet a host of bizarre characters. There’s the oddly helpful and upbeat Police officer Wilson (Ronald Plum) who prefers to offer jokes and advice in times of distress. There is Precious (Ona Grauer), the intimidatingly strong prostitute with a penchant for the choke hold, then there’s Martin Donovan as the sage-like stranger in need. Standing out in a key role is McHattie as Norval’s dad. incredulous and caustic, we are kept totally off balance by this long lost con man. Of course, this is Norval’s journey of self-discovery and skeletons in the closet and genre darling Wood excels at playing the doe-eyed, pasty, rich kid. His performance is at once grating and disarming while balancing the film’s precarious tone of comedy and thriller. His reactions anchor our view and give us a compass to read. Whether it is right or wrong is another matter entirely.

The script here too is a clever one. Ant Timpson directs from a script that he co-writes with Toby Harvard, hitting an overall tone of disarming confusion and comedy and choosing Wood to lead the charge into the chaos. How willing should one be to suddenly spend time with a long lost relative, much less a closely related one? Keeping us on guard for most of the run time, the Timpson and Harvard script is a hilarious Chinese puzzle of characters and story beats. Thompson, for his part, maintains a consistent tone too handling the precarious story with adroit timing and pace.

Who are we as people anyway? What secrets lie just under the surface, on a genetic level, that we are unaware of? As Norval decides to go down that rabbit hole and reconnect with a man he hasn’t seen since birth, predilections bubble to the surface, and the past bites with a nasty venom. COME TO DADDY is a riotously funny, pitch-perfect thriller with a sharp script and bitter, comedic direction. We think you should COME TO DADDY.