Frank and Robot a Delightful DVD Rental

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