Robot & Frank: movie review
Frank Langella's performance elevates the movie into a character study of a proud man combating his fearfulness.
Frank Langella stars opposite a machine voiced by Peter Sarsgaard in 'Robot & Frank.'
Andrew Burton/Reuters
It may not seem like an even playing field pitting an actor as powerfully intense as Frank Langella opposite a robot, but that鈥檚 the game plan behind the waywardly endearing, slightly futuristic fantasy 鈥淩obot & Frank,鈥� directed by Jake Schreier from Christopher Ford鈥檚 screenplay.
Langella plays a not-quite-reformed thief whose son (James Marsden), in order to help the old guy navigate his mostly housebound existence, buys him a five-foot-tall machine that cooks and cleans and purrs (courtesy of Peter Sarsgaard鈥檚 voice-over) like HAL in 鈥�2001.鈥� Langella鈥檚 performance turns what might have been a 鈥淭wilight Zone鈥�-style trifle into something more: a movie about a proud, ornery man combating his fearfulness. Grade: B (Rated PG-13 for some language.)