Robot & Frank
Robot helper turns crime accomplice in sentimental tale Discuss this article
In that nebulous time period known as ‘the near future’, cars will be golf-cart tiny and chamber music will be played on synthesizers. Libraries will be close to extinction. And there will be a robot in every home. Frank (Langella), an elderly jewel thief, is slipping into dementia. Enter the generically named Robot (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard). The old man can’t stand his companion, until he notices Robot innocently pilfer some soap in a boutique. A 1,000-watt lightbulb goes on over his head: Frank can teach this bag of bolts to help him do one last job.
The pleasure of watching Langella sling barbs at Sarsgaard’s sandpaper-dry android, shyly court librarian Susan Sarandon and rage against geriatric befuddlement doesn’t offset what’s essentially a mediocre character study dipped in sci-fi conventions and aged sentimentality.
Time Out Dubai,
-
- E-mail:
-
- Print:
