Robot & Frank is frustratingly close to being a great film. The central concept is intriguing enough, a robot helper is tasked with looking after an ageing jewel thief (Frank Langella) who's maybe not quite done with his old career; the cast is great (even Liv Tyler is... mostly okay); and it has a relaxed unhurried way of telling its story that I rather liked.
So it's a shame that the film can, at times, feel like a mildly entertaining nap. It's subdued to a fault. Langella, who's supposed to be irascible and curmudgeonly, comes across as little more than mildly impatient. The film needs a counterpoint to its relaxed nature; it needs someone abrasive and distant. When Langella rebukes his grown children (Tyler and James Marsden) for a perceived slight the words are supposed to hit home. They're supposed to leave a mark. Instead they bounce off, leaving his children, and us, unscathed. As written on the page, Frank is a hair's breadth away from being Eastwood's Walt Kowalski in Grand Torino; and he'd probably have been offered the part if he hadn't already done its equivalent many times before.
Jake Schreier (a first time director) kees his focus on the central pairing, but there's less to that relationship than the title would suggest. It's supposed to be a study of how technology could, and to some degree already is, impacting our lives - but the observations are no more than skin deep.
It's not till the film's end is in sight, when it pulls an audacious little plot manoeuvre that resonates emotionally in a way nothing before had, that it finally makes us understand what Frank has lost because of the ravages of time. It hints at a more interesting film, but it's one it's only ever been half interested in telling.
Overall: 6.5/10
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