80
Film Threat by Lorry Kikta
There are some intense, heartbreaking moments in this film, but I am glad to say that the ending is not as sad as it could have been.
Uncle Frank
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- · 90m
Director
Alan Ball
Cast
Sophia Lillis,
Steve Zahn,
Margo Martindale,
Judy Greer,
Peter Macdissi
Frank (Paul Bettany) is a famous New York University professor in 1973 who left his small South Carolina town behind him and remained in little contact with his family, especially given his style of life and his relationship with his ten-year partner, the free spirit Wally (Peter Macdissi). No one really knows about Frank’s life, except his newly-arrived teenage niece, Beth (Sophia Lillis), who promises to keep his relationship with the family secret. But when, Mac, the overbearing patriarch of his family dies, Frank is forced to go home for the funeral, where old traumas arise and he has to face his family again. In part road movie, partly a story of maturity, this film still to be named is a funny but deeply moving story about family, forgiveness and our intrinsic power to choose who we want to be.
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What are critics saying?
70
Arizona Republic by Bill Goodykoontz
Bettany is outstanding. He infuses Frank with just the right amount of inner turmoil and confusion as he tries to balance his love for his family with the wounds they have inflicted upon him — and as he tries to come to terms with his own identity among them.
70
Variety by Dennis Harvey
Uncle Frank recalls plenty of prior coming-out (and coming-of-age) sagas, but revisits their familiar terrain with a confident and skilled mix of humor and character-dynamic shorthand.
67
The Film Stage by Dan Mecca
For the first half of the picture, Bettany’s soft, contemplative performance investigates Frank’s self-hatred with such beauty that the re-introduction of the rest of the family feels like a detriment, despite the talent of the cast.
60
Empire by Ben Travis
Its mix of coming-of-age and homecoming stories doesn’t fully gel, but Uncle Frank is a funny and entertaining road movie with likeable performances – just brace for a closing dollop of sentimentality.
60
The Guardian by Jordan Hoffman
It is a frustrating filmgoing experience, but still one worthy of your time for the acting alone.
50
Slant Magazine by Diego Semerene
When the distance between uncle and niece shortens, Uncle Frank ceases to be a tender portrait of outsider kinship and transforms into a histrionic road movie with screwball intentions.
50
Screen Daily by Tim Grierson
It’s not simply that Uncle Frank becomes just another road-trip comedy — it’s that Ball resorts to clichéd or contrived narrative devices to keep the story going.
50
IndieWire by David Ehrlich
While there are a few truly moving detours along the way . . . Uncle Frank fumbles through its fairy-tale finale so fast that it sours everything that came before.
40
The Hollywood Reporter by Leslie Felperin
Although clearly made with earnest good intentions, this shabbily constructed work feels way too thirsty for audience love as it strings together a series of life-affirming, message-laden and sometimes embarrassingly anachronistic moments that feel too unconnected to satisfy as a drama.
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