Robot & Frank (2012)

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is a movie that will entertain from start to finish - provided you don't take the medical aspects of Frank too seriously. The creators seem to have invented a type of dementia that creates selective long term memory loss without affecting Frank's executive functioning nor his short term memory. Maybe the story would not have worked with a medically-recognizable condition. Certainly, by the end, I found myself quite angry about how lazy the creators were in researching a fundamental aspect of the story.

I saw the DVD cover for this well rated film, it is completely obvious what the film is about, I was attracted to it by the leading actor, and I was certainly interested in what the story would be. Basically set in the the near future, ageing ex-convict and thief Frank Weld (Frank Langella) lives alone and experiences increasingly serious mental deterioration and dementia. Frank's son Hunter (James Marsden), who has his own family and works as an attorney, is tired of visiting his father's home, but is reluctant to put him in full- time care, so he buys a robot companion (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard), programmed to provide Frank with therapeutic care, including a good diet, a daily routine and activities to improve creativity and memory. At first Frank is wary of the presence of the robot, but he slowly warms to his new companion when he learns the robot is not programmed to distinguish between legal recreational activities and criminal acts, and it can assist him picking locks. Frank wants to win the affections of local librarian Jennifer (Susan Sarandon), the library is being renovated and turned into a community center, as interest in print media in declining, so he and the robot commit a heist, stealing an antique copy of Don Quixote from the library. Frank's daughter Madison (Liv Tyler), who is in Turkmenistan on a philanthropic trip, she learns of the robot and returns home to convince her father to get rid of it, on ethical objections, Frank insists he wants to keep the machine, for both help and as a friend. Frank and the robot commit one last heist, stealing jewels from rich young developer Jake (Jeremy Strong), who is heading the library renovation project. The police investigate the robbery and question and monitor Frank, he maintains his innocence, so that Hunter will return he pretends his illness is becoming deadly, and to cover his tracks Frank has the decision whether to wipe the memory of his robot, even as his own memory deteriorates rapidly. Frank goes to see Jennifer at the library, he discovers from photographs that she is in fact his wife, he had forgotten. Frank then returns home and the robot convinces him to wipe its holographic memory, arguing that it is not person and his sole reason for existence is to help Frank, it wants to help him to avoid jail, he reluctantly does so. Frank is taken to the "Brain Center", where he receives help in coping with his dementia, the jewels are not recovered by the police, Frank implies to Hunter in a note that they are hidden under tomato plants in his garden, that the robot made. Also starring Jeremy Sisto as Sheriff Rowlings, Bonnie Bentley as Ava and Rachael Ma as Robot (body). Langella gives a most impressive performance as the cranky elderly retired cat burglar whose memory is fading, Sarsgaard is a good choice as the voice of the kindly machine, and there is good support from Sarandon and the other players. This is a very simple story, an old thief using a machine that knows the definition of stealing, but does not understand it when doing it, this works well as a character study, and splendidly mixes the right amount of laughs but also the poignant and heartfelt emotion, overall it is a most satisfying science-fiction comedy drama. Very good!

Robot films are difficult to pull off. You have to create a story around robot(s) and presumably quite a few humans that feels fluid and natural. With Robot & Frank, the relationship between the two of them wasn't the problem. In fact, I think the best parts of the film were the two bickering or bantering back and forth. Well, I guess it was mostly just Frank doing the bickering, but still. I enjoyed the dynamic and their arc together, I just felt like the story around them and the characters they interact with wasn't appealing.Frank, played by Frank Langella, is an aging lonely man who doesn't really want anything to do with people who try and help him with his dementia. His son, played by James Marsden, buys him a robot who is supposed to help around the house. Of course, at first Frank is opposed to the idea but soon grows to enjoy the robot's company. He then decides to convince the robot to accompany him on a series of cat burglaries as he was once a convicted criminal. This was the side of the film that I just didn't buy into. It's a new and interesting take on the sci-fi genre, but I thought the execution was poor. I liked the development of Frank and his love interest's relationship, played by Susan Sarandon, was far more interesting and satisfying than what the robberies had to offer. I think if the film focused more on the trio of the robot, Frank, and her, the film would have resonated much more with me. Plus, I never really saw the need of having either of his two kids even in the film. Liv Tyler seemed like she didn't know what to do with her character and the lines she was given.So in all, Robot & Frank proved to be a disappointing film that had the potential to be great. Characters and story arcs ended up being unnecessary in an otherwise sweet tale of a man dealing with dementia. Hopefully Jake Schreier can pick it up for this summer's Paper Towns.+Langella +Early scenes with Robot -Third act left turn needed more build up -Liv Tyler felt out of place -Crime aspect wasn't appealing5.8/10

A good friend of mine and I were recently lamenting that Langella never gets the roles he deserves, while watching a TV re-run of 'Frost/Nixon', and were wondering when that might happen. Moviewishfulfilling angels heard us for sure, and gave us this little gem. Nice little Indie with one of the best character performers out there leading this effort front-and-center, surrounded by an excellent ensemble that includes Susan Sarandon (playing a role that has to be every young man's fantasy - the sexy librarian; no, really!), James Marsden and Liv Tyler. A neat and tight little tale about an ex-burglar (think Eastwood in 'Extreme Prejudice', but without the gravitas of that one), this subtly makes a few unobtrusive statements about the value of relationships, how much we take one another, and our own infallibility for granted, and how the 'life happens bs' cannot erase true love. On the surface though, this is just about 1 last heist from someone who's a master at planning and carrying things out, set in the near-future on the outskirts of NYC, finding an unlikely partner and ally along for every part of the ride, someone who gives, while being mentored on the fine arts of carrying out a heist.Here's to hoping that many more such roles come this great actor's way - most of us'll be in the queue at the box office.