Uncle Frank

Written and directed by Alan Ball
Starring Paul Bettany, Sophia Lillis, Peter Macdissi, Steve Zahn, Judy Greer and Stephen Root
Running time: 1 hour and 35 minutes
MPAA rating: R for language, some sexual references and drug use

by Audrey Callerstrom

Uncle Frank opens with a walk-through of a bustling South Carolina home in the late ‘60s and a venerable who’s-who of character actors. An uncertain teenage Betty (Sophia Lillis) feels lost in the shuffle. We have mother Judy Greer, father Steve Zahn, grandfather Stephen Root, great-grandmother Lois Smith, and her majesty Margo Martindale as Betty’s grandmother. In what proves to be an unnecessary voiceover, Betty explains how the only person she ever felt connected with was her dad’s brother, uncle Frank (Paul Bettany), a university professor who talks to Betty on an adult level. She can be whoever she wants to be, he tells her, heck, she doesn’t even need to call herself “Betty” if she doesn’t want to. It’s her name, after all. She switches to Beth and, a few years later, enrolls at the school in New York where Frank teaches.

Early scenes between Frank and Beth have a tenderness to them. As a child, it feels special to truly be seen like an adult, and have an adult talk to you on an adult level, giving advice that benefits you and not them. The rest of the film doesn’t pay off, or match this emotional weight. Beth goes to college, immediately self-assured, confident and able to list off her favorite authors with bullet speed. Beth hears about a party at Frank’s house, and shows up to surprise him, only to find out that Frank, whom everyone thought was living with a sparkly woman named Charlotte, is gay, and lives with his boyfriend, Wally (Peter Macdissi, Ball’s husband). A sudden phone call regarding the death of Frank’s father (Stephen Root) sets Beth, Frank and Wally on a road trip back to their fictional hometown of Creekville.

The rest of the movie unfolds more like a Lifetime movie than a film by an Oscar and Emmy-winning writer and director (Alan Ball). It feels less like Ball wanted to tell a personal story about family and secrets than he wanted to see Bettany don a mustache and drive vintage cars to songs like “Cool Jerk.” It’s extremely polished. This is such a tired narrative. Root is basically Chris Cooper in American Beauty, a homophobe who grumbles about his disgust for (insert gay slur). Frank’s flashbacks show young love and tragedy, largely due to his father and his internalized self-hatred. Except, wasn’t it Beth who was telling this story? Ball can’t make up his mind on who the story belongs to. Not that it matters, I suppose. It’s schmaltzy and phony and laughably melodramatic. Frank goes to his father’s grave, arm and forehead to the tombstone, wailing “forgive me!” I expected in the next take he was going to pound his fist into the earth and shout “NOOOOOOOOOO!!!” at the sky.

Bettany delivers a convincing performance and is able to elevate the material, but the character is underwritten. Frank is a professor, and he’s gay, and he drinks, and that’s about it. Bettany as Vision in the Avengers films is a more complicated character. Lillis serves as that version of youth that you wish you were at 18: self-assured, well read and able to hold your own. Ball seems too invested in superficial details, like vintage ashtrays and cardigans, and less with little ones, like how Beth throws up from drinking but her hair and headband are kept meticulously in place. And why use all these talented actors to make up Beth’s family if none of them is given more than a few lines? Especially given how terrific Martindale was in Blow the Man Down earlier this year (also an Amazon original). Uncle Frank never earns its moments of drama. The sudden reveal of Frank’s sexuality is done in such an ingenuine way, and then it wraps up simply, like a Lifetime film. Did we need the Beth character to tell this story? She’s never given her own arc. The story that Ball wants to tell here is Frank’s, and in spite of having the capable actors and budget within his grasp, he fails to make it a compelling one.

Catch Uncle Frank exclusively on Amazon Prime, November 25th.

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