Frankie Go Boom

I'm not a comedy fan but I loved this film. I've been disappointed and disillusioned by so-called comedies far too many times, but this film had me laughing loudly and joyfully. Yes, the humor may be crass but it has genuine heart which can only be achieved through great writing and great acting. Frankie Go Boom is not a dumb movie, and neither is the writer/director, or anyone else involved. It is what it is, and what it is, is cute, hilarious, wicked and possibly for some (mainly the humiliated and deranged) cathartic. There is not one mis-cast actor nor one ill-written line. If you can handle transgender, painful family discussions, jokes about addiction and a near-death experience by a farm animal I highly recommend this film.

"How is Jack Knowles seeing a movie of a drunken woman hitting me with her bike helping you get your dream Bruce?" Frankie's (Hunnam) brother Bruce (O'Dowd) has just got out of prison and is back in his life. Frankie is not happy about this. His whole life Bruce has been filming Frankie in the worst possible situations. When Frankie has an embarrassing night with a woman he just met his brother films that too. This simple act spirals out of control and ends up affecting everyone involved, and some who aren't. I'm not sure what I expected from this movie but it wasn't this. The movie is funny and I did laugh a few times but it was different then I thought it would be. The cast is funny and the dialog is funny but it is borderline offensive so be warned if you are easily offended. I don't want to say too much because this is the kind of movie that each scene builds on itself and saying something will ruin the flow but it is funny, just different. Overall, not bad and worth seeing unless you are easily offended. I give it a B-.

Before I watched this movie, I looked up the reviews on IMDb. A few people gave it a good score, but many said it was crap. In fact, the ratings were so bad, I had to see for myself how bad it really was. I'm so glad I did. It was hilarious! Chris O'Dowd, Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman & Chris Noth were all excellent! Chris O'Dowd is funny in pretty much any movie I've seen him in, but I actually hadn't seen Charlie Hunnam in anything except Sons of Anarchy before this. I was surprised at how marvellous both he and Ron Perlman were in a comedic role. Please don't be put off by all the negative reviews. If you aren't offended by sex talk or occasional nudity, I thoroughly recommend it. By the way, I'm a 57 year old grandmother! 7.5/10

Unexpectedly hilarious. Grear performances by Perlman and rest of cast.

Frankie does what great comedies do. The movie sets up a very 'unlikely' scenario through which the characters must find their way. The movie doesn't shy away from many, if any of the social issues of our day but Jordan Roberts has taken a very fresh approach and thus each scene has both real hilarity and real humanity. Not enough can be said of the cast. To a person they bring such good work. Stand outs are the lead Charlie Hunnam, and his love interest Lizze Caplan. Of course, both Chris Noth and Ron Perlman fill the screen with their scene stealing roles.

While clearly working with a small, indie budget Roberts and his team have created a quality film with tremendous production values, that can easily compete with movies that cost much more to make.