I saw the trailer for this movie, Dear Frankie, awhile ago and wrote it off as utter sentimental garbage. Its about a boy who has maintained a correspondance with his father his whole life. His father is a sailor and the boy gets mail from all around the world. The catch is that its actually his mom who has been writing him letters the entire time. The trailer doesn't say what happened to the father, but basically his ship is coming back home. The gets dressed up and goes out on the town looking for a man who will agree to pretend to be Frankie's father. Gerard Butler, who was just in Phantom of the Opera, plays the faux-father who has to spend alot of time with Frankie and his mother Lizzie. It seemed like it would be very cheesy, but the reviews are at 100% right now. Granted there are only 7, but that's a good sign.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dear_frankie/


They say its pretty warm and nice, and manages to avoid becoming stereotypical sap. It begins limited release next week.

I think its Irish, so might be toeing the line of rough working class landscape but with personable characters like Full Monty, Billy Eliot, etc.

This went through sooo many schedule changes.

At newspaper, we'd always get screening information on this film. The screening date would always change. There was one in July, and then we got one in August, then one in November, then one in December, etc...

Saw a trailer for this before Meet the Fockers and it seems to be a nice little movie. Nothing great, though, just nice and litte.

Yeah. Riggs, I sqw it recently and just thought it was going to be a "Oh, how cute," type movie. Pleasant, and perhaps a bit sugary at the end, not providing too much insight, but a feel-good story. Anyways, it might turn out to be more than that, RT now has 12 reviews in and its still at 100% This is one to keep an eye on this year. Its going to have very long legs and WOM, and might end up being a FUll Monty type run. I'm even starting to get interested and when I first saw the trailer I was turned off by the cuteness factor. Its looking to be more serious though.

There we go, massive drop since more reviews came in. With 33 reviews its only at 70%, and is rotten at cream of the crop. Some of the arguements are quite scathing, about "kids liking to be lied to." I think those people might be taking the film literally rather than as a metaphor for protecting the innocence of youth. It would be like saying kids like being lied to was the ultimate moral of Life is Beautiful.

Anyways, we'll see if it's still smart or if its bordering on late Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts romcoms. Anyone seen it yet?

bump for bradley...

Oops...

From Bradley's other thread, reading in title Dear Frankie: This Year's Whale Rider

I saw it at a huge theatre on the second Tuesday night of it's run, and there was only me and one other person (who btw was snoring loudly at the end) in the audience.

I think the heavy Scottish accents are going to make it hard to attract a wider audience -- which is their loss...



You're right, dv - that is a very narrow reading of the plot - it certainly has much more to say about life and especially the meaning of parenthood...

Hmm ... sounds like a rental to me. The plot sounds like my moms type of movie.

I'll go see it if it comes to the cinema here.

Yeah, I really don't wanna see this.

Nobody saw this one?!?

It opened here last weeked to the number #11 spot. Pretty good for such a small film. I expect it to rise in the coming weeks as other larger films slip. I'll soon give it a watch and will be back with my thoughts.