Nine-year-old Frankie (Jack McElhone) and his single mum, Lizzie (Emily Mortimer), have been on the move ever since Frankie can remember, most recently arriving in a seaside town. Wanting to protect her deaf son from the truth that they've run away from his father, Lizzie, writes Frankie a make-believe letter from his father telling of his adventures in exotic lands. As Frankie tracks the ship's progress around the globe, he discovers that it is due to dock in his hometown. With the real ship arriving in only a fortnight, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth or finding the perfect stranger (Gerard Butler) to play Frankie's father for just one day.
Special Agent Matti
Ahhh... Dear Frankie is such a well-written film that all you can do is drift with the current, letting it take you wherever it wends. [Enough with the crap metaphors - Director of Intelligence.] It makes a good companion piece to Young Adam - which features many of the same cast and crew - as both films present life in Scotland at the lower end of the socio-economic scale, where family can bind you together as much as it tears you apart.
Jack McElhone is perfectly cast as the eponymous Frankie (innocent yet worldly) while Gerard Butler is the perfect father (tall, strong, handsome, loving, safe). The females are good, too. Oh, look... just watch it.
M (Low level coarse language)
105 minutes (1:45 hours)
Film: 21 April 2005
DVD rental: 17 August 2005
DVD retail: 11 January 2006