Staring
Frank Langella as Frank
Susan Sarandon as Jennifer
Peter Sarsgaard as Robot (voice)
Rachael Ma as Robot (body)
James Marsden as Hunter
Liv Tyler as Madison
Jeremy Strong as Jake
Jeremy Sisto as Sheriff Rowlings
''Directed by:
Jake Schreier
Frank played brilliantly by Frank Langella is an aging jewel thief that he spent time in prison for. Now he is alone in an old house and his health and memory are both fading. Franks son, with whom Frank has a tenuous relationship with at best, gives his father a choice, accept a robot caretaker or go to a managed care facility.
Frank very reluctantly accepts the robot. Finding weak points in the robot's program, Frank waylays the robot into helping him with a couple nefarious project that turn into one of the oddest buddy movies you are likely to see.
The plot moves along very well and manages to get it's point across without being heavy handed. The ending is telegraphed but done so sweetly that you find yourself buying right into Franks conflict.
The plot is subtly broken in an undefined way. Maybe it was the speed Frank accepted the device or maybe for the near future, the secondary characters seemed much further removed...but it IS subtle. In the end it may be that the characters just are not all that well defined, leading to a one trick pony show. But again it is no where near bad enough to warrant a pass. The movie is cute and whimsy in a kittenish kind of way. And in any event you are ill used if you don't watch the film.
For an Indie film, I am very impressed. I would give it a solid 8 for acting and plot development.
You can find it of all places on Youtube here
