Guide Rating – 4 1/2 Stars out of 5
The Bottom Line
I was extremely disappointed when Miramax pulled “Dear Frankie” from its 2004 release calendar. Had it found its way into theaters last year, “Dear Frankie” would have had a spot on my Top 10 list of the Best Films of 2004. This is an amazing, heart-warming, original (an oddity in today’s movie marketplace) film with absolutely sensational performances.
Pros: Terrific performances by the entire cast
A sweet, gentle story we haven’t seen a million times before
Decent collection of bonus features
Cons: None worth noting
Description
8 deleted scenes
Interview with director Shona Auerbach
‘The Story of Dear Frankie’ – Cast interviews and info on the making of “Dear Frankie”
Commentary track with director Shona Auerbach
DVD RELEASE DATE: July 5, 2005
Guide Review – “Dear Frankie” DVD Review
Frankie’s a young, fatherless boy who’s smart as a whip and doesn’t seem to view his deafness as any sort of handicap. Raised by his loving, protective mom, Lizzie (Emily Mortimer), Frankie fills his spare time tracing the route his dad’s ship takes as it travels around the world, and keeping in touch with the man he doesn’t remember ever having met via twice monthly letters.
Frankie (Jack McElhone) is unaware of the fact his mom is the one answering his letters and when the ship she’s been pretending his dad works on docks in their hometown, Lizzie has to take the extraordinary step of hiring a stranger to pretend to be Frankie’s long-lost dad.
Mortimer and McElhone are utterly convincing as mother and son, but it’s the performance of Gerard Butler as the stranger who sells this story. A gentle tale that easily could have turned out to be sickeningly sweet, Butler takes this character, a man whose backstory is a mystery and who we’re immediately leery of, and infuses him with a real sense of love and compassion for the lonely boy he’s been hired to take out.
DVD BONUS FEATURES:
For a small budget indie film, the “Dear Frankie” DVD includes a surprisingly good selection of bonus features. Besides the standard deleted scenes and a feature commentary track by the director, the “Dear Frankie” DVD also includes a behind the scenes look at the development of the script and the casting of the film, including interviews with the principle cast and crew.