Frank & Penelope

Frank and Penelope is not a great movie, but it is a very good one, charming and entertaining and most definitely better than anything big-budget Hollywood is churning out. Filled with B-list actors, and everyone giving it their all, the movie could have used a bit of trimming . Still I was rooting for the 2 leads, who had great chemistry and it was all played to a great soundtrack and shot well. I hate the new woke Hollywood, love well done indies and this is worth a watch.

The story kind of grew on you, although it was painful taking the baby steps to reveal the plot. And you really had to focus to understand what the heck was going on in some places, but it was interesting even if it has been done many times before.

My main problem is the really bad acting from the 2 main characters Frank and Penelope. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be bad on purpose, but it was hard to watch in a few places. They are a likeable couple, but man the acting needs work. I've seen Caylee Cowan in another movie and her acting was very similar, so either this style is her niche, or she is just getting by on her looks.

Anyway, it was watchable, but you won't remember it in a few weeks.

I really was not expecting much from Frank and Penelope as a serious horror/thriller genre film. Although the film starts off rather mundane, the film gradually builds up steam to what I consider both an effective thriller and with a surprise ending. No spoilers here.

The two main characters Frank (Billy Budinich), and Penelope (Caylee Cowan) are mostly unknown actors but I believe both have garnered significant support from their growing fan base which includes myself now.

The plot has been done hundreds of times before with a dysfunctional group of characters controlling a small town where they go undetected with their dastardly crimes. Coming into this tiny dirt road town in their souped up. American made Dodge Charger are Frank and Penelope who are on the run in a similar fashion as the well known rebels from the.1991 movie thriller Thelma and Louise.

As hard as actor Billy Budinich deserves to be recognized for his character portrayal of a tough guy boyfriend, most of the attention will go to the female lead character Penelope played to perfection by actress Caylee Cowan. Her voice, her swivel hips and pouty lips, but mostly her sex appeal and her sexy baby voice will leave most fans wanting to see and hear more from Penelope.

It becomes a battle of wits and desire to stay alive for Frank and Penelope to get out of this freak town and I found myself rooting for both of them to succeed.

No spoilers here, suffice to say I really enjoyed this horror/thriller film and I give it a most deserving 8 out of 10 IMDb rating.

I look forward to seeing more films from both Billy Budinich and Caylee Cowan.

The only thing that saved the movie was eyeballing penelope and that dodge charger, could it be a cult classic ermm nah,i wont spoil it, the guy whatever his name was, penelope falls for, he cannot act, penelope erm does not matter if she can act, she's vava voom in a weird way, not stunning but an alluring kind of attractive, the car was the real star though, chargers in real life are not that great really, not for handling anyway, look cool though, but you better have a gas tanker behind you, it's one watch film, i hope the actress gets more roles i rather like her, and wish her the best, running out of stuff to say..

But this creative entertaining little gem gets 8/10 stars from me. I've been holding off watching this due to the harsh critics reviews, but decided to finally give it a chance. Heck, it's not even close to perfect, but for a B film, it's one of the better ones out there, and most importantly, it was a fun ride - albeit sometimes weird.

This is notable actor Sean Patrick Flanery's second dabble as writer and director, and rookie mistakes aside, I couldn't stop watching this little gem. It certainly had some plot and pacing issues, and I felt the 112 min runtime was stretched out too much. Some much needed edits and cuts to make this around a 90 min runtime could've gone a long way.

However his filmmaking tone and style did not disappoint. It did well in mixing various genres, and the cinematography, sets and landscaped were well utilized. The soundtrack and score were excellent, especially for a B film. I did feel his cast needed better direction, as some of the performances either lacked conviction, or were overdone every now and then. It also needed a little fine tuning in some of the dialogue - especially Caylee Cowan's Marilyn Monroe voice and demeanor, that became a little too annoying pretty fast.

Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it more than I had expected. I like that Flanery left the ending open to a sequel, I'll certainly be watching out for one.