McElhone’s whippersnapper smarts and unwillingness to become the victim set the stage, which is matched by Butler’s gently-thawing stoicism. Scottish television and radio star Mary Riggins, who has a reputation for doing the entire spectrum of children’s voices, from crying babies to teenage boys, adds humor and depth to the story, while Emily Mortimer is pitch-perfect as the shy victim of domestic violence who refuses to ever be abused ever again.
“Dear Frankie” is a film that will touch many, for many have been bereft of fathers – especially good ones. A worthy, worthwhile movie of great merit.
AUDIENCE: Older, mature adolescents and adults.
OBJECTIONABLE CONTENT:
- Drugs/Alcohol Content: Smoking and drinking throughout the film, including one character who chain-smokes, one scene where characters appear to be drunk, several scenes in bars and a grandmother who insists that her grandson buy cigarettes for her.
- Language/Profanity: About a dozen obscenities, mostly “hell” and British curses (e.g. bloody), but also several uses of the f-word. At least twelve profanities such as “OMG,” “Jesus/Jesus Christ/Christ” and “God Almighty.”
- Sexual Content/Nudity: In one scene, a boy tells another boy to stick his finger into his palm and asks if that is how his girlfriend feels; a couple makes out in the distance; a child tells another child that she found condoms in her mother’s closet; men leer provocatively at a woman in a bar and bartender treats her like a prostitute (which she is not).
- Violence: None.
