Dear Frankie Movie Review 2004

Scottish tearjerker about a woman, her deaf son, and the guy she pays to pretend to be Dad. Lizzie (Mortimer) has raised 9-year-old Frankie (McElhone) to believe that the father he doesn't remember is a member of a cargo ship crew, when in reality he was an abusive jerk that Lizzie left years ago. Of course, this means that she has to come up with a fake father on the spot, and finds a stranger (Butler) to fill the role, with the standard mom-falls-for-fake-dad, fake-dad-learns-to-like-his-fake-family results. Solid performances by all fail to make up for a bland, manipulative story.

Distribution

Miramax Film Corp., 8439 W Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069-1921, Phone: (323)650-2937, URL: http://www.miramax.com

Available on DVD
Running time 102 minutes.
Originally from British.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Single Parents, Deafness, Domestic Abuse, Child Abuse, Not-So-True Identity, Family Drama, Glasgow, Scotland

Screenplay

Andrea Gibb

Cast

Emily Mortimer, Jack McElhone, Sharon Small, Cal Macaninch, Mary Riggans, Sophie Main, Katy Murphy, Gerard Butler

Director

Shona Auerbach

Music

Alex Heffes

Other

Oral Norrie Ottey, Margaret Horspool, Carole K. Millar, Jennifer Kernke

Producer

Caroline Wood, Pathe Pictures, Sigma Film, U.K. Film Council, Scottish Screen, Miramax Films