8/10
I am usually averse to what I call "Sundance movies", those quirky little comedy/dramedies with characters just weird enough to be cloyingly likeable instead of interesting or challenging. Frank is very much a "Sundance movie". Its central buzz is behind the fact that it stars Michael Fassbender, who spends the entire movie under a bizarre papier mache head despite being the lead singer of a band.
The movie's main focus is on Jon, a geeky keyboard player who gets recruited into this band of weirdos. Jon is a would-be songwriter and is both in awe of and jealous of Frank's almost nonchalant musical genius. Much of the movie focuses on the band's isolation in an cottage in Dublin, cooped up together to seek musical inspiration to record the album that will (Frank believes) launch them to superstardom. Jon tracks the band's progress via updates on his Twitter, Youtube channel and blog, eventually gaining enough interest to get a small showing at the SXSW festival in America.
The movie has some good laughs, and the music is genuinely cool, although there's definitely a little fun being poked at the creative process of young, hip, indie musicians. The ending packs something of a startling emotional punch. I could see it coming across as a little forced for some, but it really worked for me. The movie slows down as the band heads to America and the story gets a little messy but it recovers nicely in the last 10 minutes or so. I wish, like most of these quirky/cute movies, it was a little more unafraid to take a stand or make a statement instead of just being kind of glib and irreverent at times, but there's still enough charm, humor and genuine heart to make it more likeable than most movies of its ilk.
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