Review of Robot & Frank (2012) by Nate Z — 19 Sep 2012

It's the age-old story about an elderly man (Frank Langella) suffering from Alzheimer's who teaches his robot helper to be his partner in jewelry heists. While that sounds a lot more fantastic than the move we eventually get, Robot & Frank is a mellow, sincere, and overall nice movie that treats the particulars of its world with a wry sense of whimsy. The movie is really a mismatched buddy film as Frank is hostile to being forced to live with robotic help, but soon the two of them form the basis of a friendship, and when things get dangerous it's heartwarming the lengths they'll go to save the other. Give the Alzheimer's subject, expect some twists in the final act concerning Frank's world. The movie wants to hit us emotionally but I felt mostly remote, smirking at some of the fun of the old codger back in the burglary business of his youth. But the film just stays at a very even-keel level of emotional resonance, drawing us in but not exactly taking us anywhere. The ending is curiously without any sort of comforting resolution that could have put a solid piece of punctuation on the film's emotional drama. Langella, it should be said, is excellent. Robot & Frank is a high-concept buddy film, fairly pleasant and entertaining but when it comes to a close you may wish that the film had relied less on chaste understatement.

Nate's Grade: B.