Movie Review - Robot & Frank

Robot & Frank (2012)

Starring Frank Langella, James Marsden, Liv Tyler, Susan Sarandon, and Peter Sarsgaard

Directed by Jake Shreier

In the near future, aging Frank (Frank Langella) is finding himself entering the beginning stages of dementia or Alzheimer's Disease (the specifics are never really discussed in the film).  His son Hunter (James Marsden) lives about six hours away from his father, but still visits him on a regular basis on the weekends leaving his own children behind to care for his ailing dad.  In order to alleviate some of this constant traveling in his life, Hunter decides to buy a robot caretaker (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard) who will clean, cook, and keep an eye on Frank's health, reporting back to Hunter when necessary.  Frank is adamantly against this as is his daughter Madison (Liv Tyler) who is working in Turkmenistan and can't really prevent her brother from bringing this newfangled technology into her father's home.

Eventually, Frank realizes that he's stuck with the robot so he might as well try and get to understand the technology...and this is where Robot & Frank starts to slowly go downhill.  The film's opening act (as detailed in the first paragraph) is amusing, but as the flick progresses, we discover that a long time ago Frank was a rather brilliant small-time thief who happened to get caught and spend some time in prison.  When Frank discovers that his robot companion has been programmed to do what Frank tells him to do, Frank decides to teach the robot the tricks of the trade when it comes to robbing people and this duo sets out to do some damage in their small town.

Ultimately, though, it isn't the story that takes Robot & Frank down a notch.  It's the fact that I failed to find myself connected to Frank in the way that I think was necessary in order for the movie to succeed on all levels.  Frank Langella certainly does a good job here...he's better than the part he's given, in fact.  Unfortunately, considering his condition of a slowly deteriorating memory, I never found myself invested in his plight.  When Frank says to his daughter who desperately wants to take the robot away after several weeks together, "But he's my only friend," I can't help but think that was supposed to hit me in the gut.  It didn't in any way, however, and the fault has to either lie in the direction of first time auteur Jake Shreier and/or the script from first time screenwriter Christopher D. Ford.  Somehow the screenplay and the direction never quite made the emotional connection with me in the way that the film desperately desires and needs in order to fully succeed.  Here's this old guy whose health is fading and he's being reinvigorated by a friendship with someone (or something, to be more accurate) he thought he was going to hate.  There's depth there worth exploring and while I think the film tries, it didn't click for me in the way it should have.

While it may seem like I'm critiquing Robot & Frank in a manner that would deem it not worth watching, it's actually a somewhat solid film with some nice performances from the whole cast.  The problem is that the potential for something greater is always present, but the film is never quite able to grasp it.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+