Robot and Frank

Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon star in Robot and Frank, a comedy drama set in the near future. Frank (Langella) is a retired cat burglar who lives on his own on the outskirts of a small mid-western town. His children, played by James Marsden and Liv Tyler, become increasingly worried about the mental health of their father, so much so that the son buys him a robot companion much to the annoyance of his daughter. To begin with, Frank rejects the help but then begins to see his robotic aid's usefulness in resurrecting his career. They first case the local library which is run by another robot and Sarandon's character. They steal a priceless book 'Don Quixote' when Frank learns that the library is to be modernised and he then decides to give the book to Sarandon as a present, but can't bring himself to do it. So he decides to rob the library's rich benefactors. Up to and including the robber of the chief benefactor, the film trundles along quiet happily as an uneasy friendship blossoms between Frank and the robot, but after this, the film seems to run out of steam and seems to stop rather abruptly as if someone had been clock watching and was scared to run over budget. The FX are OK. The robot companions look like left over storm troopers from the original 'Star Wars' trilogy and the robot librarian looks like something from the original series of 'Star Trek' (a box of lights that flash on and off that is connected up to a loud speaker with someone speaking through a microphone). I was looking forward to this film and did enjoy it up to a point, but was left wanting more at the end.