Robot & Frank

I saw trailers for Robot & Frank close to a year ago and the movie was released in America last August but only arrived on our shores this month. I saw it on a recent flight the same week it came out in UK cinemas. I was intrigued by the premise and have a thing for Science Fiction movies set in the near future. I was also annoyed at having to wait such a long time to see the movie when there seems no reason for such a long delay between US and UK release dates. Now I’ve finally seen the movie all my excitement was unnecessary. While occasionally interesting and often funny, the movie loses its way by the half way mark and I lost interest soon after.

The plot revolves around a retired jewel thief called Frank (Frank Langella) who is suffering from the early stages of dementia. His days are filled with pottering about his house and involve daily trips to his ageing library in which he is pretty much the only patron. It is at the library that he maintains his one and only friendship with Librarian Jennifer (Susan Sarandon). Frank receives weekly visits from his successful son Hunter (James Marsden) who decides to buy his father a robot butler/companion to ease his chores and help to keep his memory in check. Frank initially rejects the robot but soon learns it might help him pull off one final job.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey… The cult hit musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show currently holds the record for the longest running release in cinema history having never been pulled by 20^th Century Fox since its release in 1975. Chances are if you are in a large city that you’ll be able to find the film on at a midnight screening sometime in the near future. Though in no way a hit on its release, the film has since made one hundred times its original budget and has become one of the most popular musical films in history and my personal favourite.

Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and his new fiancée Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) are on their way to visit their old college professor when they break down in the middle of nowhere. Spotting a castle not far away they head off to see if they can use the phone but discover on their arrival that they have turned up on the night of an unusual party hosted by transvestite scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) to celebrate the birth of a creature that Frank-N-Furter has created in his lab.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home

Jeff (Jason Segel) is a thirty year old man with a puncheon for the film Signs and lives in his mother Sharon’s (Susan Sarandon) basement. His older brother Pat (Ed Helms) still lives close by with his wife Linda (Judy Greer). He and Linda are in the midst of serious marital problems. One day while she is at work, Sharon asks Jeff to go to the shop to pick up some wood glue. Convinced that the name Kevin is some sort of sign he ill advisedly follows various Kevins’ around the city bumping into his brother along the way.

To me the film was like a cross between a Wes Anderson film and The Office. It has the odd, quirky indie charm of an Anderson picture but the awkward humour and filming style of The Office. Unfortunately it was neither as good as any Wes Anderson film I’ve seen nor The Office. At times it was quite funny but these moments were usually fleeting and there weren’t many of them. The story was reasonably interesting and the film had a sweet ending but it just didn’t mesh together. The whole ‘the Universe will show me the way’ nonsense was really annoying and although the ending was very sweet, it was obvious and annoyed me.