Saturday, February 11, 2012

Dear Frankie



directed by Shona Auerbach (2004(

I almost stopped watching this because I couldn't make out the Scottish accents.  I kinda wish I'd stopped because it's a dumb story.  It's got a nice message and all, with the mom wanting to protect her son, but bleagh, it's so sentimental and doesn't make much sense,  at least in a plausible way.  It's pretty romantic and has a fairly happy ending,  but there were way too many moments where I was scratching my head with, yeah that would happen kinda thoughts.  I think it's supposed to be set in the past when cell phones and the internet didn't exist, because the movie would be even less plausible if people didn't have to rely on newspaper ads to communicate.  On a story level I could see it satisfying a lot of people, but it wasn't my cup of tea - too sappy.  I did like the actors, (Gerard Butler oooo!), but they aren't working with the greatest material.

Also, the fact that the boy was deaf, seemed like a stunt, and I didn't think his deafness was portrayed with realism.  The domestic violence issues were more integrated with the story though.  It wasn't a terrible film.  I think a lot of people will enjoy it, probably Scottish folk, and if you're a fan of Gerard Butler helps, because he's in a lot of scenes. :)




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