ROBOT AND FRANK (2012)
Directed by
Jake Schrier
Dog Run
Pictures
PG-13, 89
mins.
* * * *
Robot and
Frank is a classic “small” picture
the likes of which sneak in and out of the local mall so fast that they never
generate the needed buzz to build an audience. Small pictures are often gems
that enjoy a better fate on video and so should this tasty little hors d’oeuvre.
If forced to pick a genre I’d call this one an offbeat
comedy, though a major subtheme, dementia, is no laughing matter. The film is
set in suburban New York (Cold Spring Harbor, actually) in the not-so-distant
future, where we meet Frank (veteran stage actor Frank Langella). Frank is
equally parts charming, cantankerous, and exasperating; he’s also elderly and
starting to “lose it.” His kids are grown, with daughter Madison (Liv Tyler)
traveling the globe trying to rebuild her own messy life, and son Hunter (James
Marsden) busy with business and family and weary of the long commute he makes
every week to check in on his dad. One weekend Hunter arrives with Frank’s new
companion—a personal assistant robot (voice by Peter Sarsgaard). It’s a
state-of-the art model programmed to act as caregiver for dementia patients for
whom routines are important. Thus begins one of the stranger “buddy” films in
recent movie history.
We learn that Frank’s tidy home was probably purchased
with ill-gotten funds and that he isn’t quite what we expect—he’s a paroled
(semi-) retired cat burglar with a fondness for shoplifting and dreams of a
final heist before he puts away his lock picks. He even has a target—an obnoxious
Yuppie computer-geek couple that’s new to town and hell-bent on ridding the
town library of its outmoded books and automating the system. (Instead of good
cop/bad cop, we get good robot/bad computers!) This distressed Frank, as he likes
hanging out in the old building and flirting with the librarian, Jennifer
(Susan Sarandon). All Frank needs for his denouement caper is a partner, but
how much help can you get from a robot programmed to resist Frank’s bad habits?
You can probably see where all of this is going, but
it’s rollicking good fun to watch it unfold. Writer Christopher Ford’s script
has just enough small twists—including one involving Sarandon--to compensate
for the obvious plot, and he’s inserted enough poignancy and pathos to provide
a bittersweet ending. Kudos also for humanizing dementia and showing us the
humanity in those moments in which it begins to ebb away. And let’s give a
shout out to Langella, a superb actor whose talent is woefully
underappreciated.
Robot and
Frank isn’t path-breaking cinema--just
a very enjoyable small film that will leave you smiling at the same time your
eyes moist over. Don’t be surprised if you feel as much for the robot as for
Frank. Rent this and discover the soul of the new machine.—Rob Weir
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