Uncle Frank starring Paul Bettany (review)

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

PLOT: In the mid-seventies, a man (Paul Bettany) returns to his Southern hometown with his niece in tow (Sophie Lillis) to attend the funeral of his estranged, homophobic father. His boyfriend (Peter Macdissi) tags along too – but there’s a problem. His family has no idea that he’s gay.

REVIEW: Paul Bettany has never really gotten his due as an actor in my opinion. While he’s gone on to fame and (presumably) fortune, in some of his best performances you can get a glimpse of a spectacular talent that often goes unrecognized, with some highlights including GANGSTER NO.1, MASTER & COMMANDER, MARGIN CALL, and now UNCLE FRANK. Here, he plays a character that’s no doubt highly personal for writer-director Alan Ball, who comes from a similarly conservative small town and learned that his father might have been a closeted gay man.

In some ways, UNCLE FRANK is a “what if”, with Bettany’s character deeply closeted to his family. What would happen if he was outed? Here, Frank is the family outlier. His awful father (Stephen Root atypically playing an unsympathetic character) has nothing but contempt for him, and nobody quite knows why. To them, Frank is a mystery, with his job as a professor in New York, but nobody knows anything about his personal life other than the fact that he has a Jewish girlfriend no one’s ever really gotten to know.

Of course, his “girlfriend” is a ruse, something his adoring niece, Beth (Sophia Lillis) finds out when she starts going to NYU and surprises him at a soiree. Turns out he’s gay and has been in a committed relationship with his longtime partner, Wally (Peter Macdissi) for years. Beth is pretty easy to win over. When his not so dear old dad dies, they have to return home, only to be followed by Wally, who has delusions of Frank’s family embracing him. This despite his own family in Saudi Arabia knowing nothing about his orientation for obvious reasons.

While Ball’s batting average on the big screen has been more hit and miss than his incredible work on the small screen (“Six Feet Under”, “True Blood” and the badass “Banshee” are classics), UNCLE FRANK is still his best movie since AMERICAN BEAUTY. A far less somber affair, this is a likable comedy/drama, anchored by a trio of terrific performances. Macdissi (Ball's real-life partner) is a real find as the warm-hearted Wally, who’s desperate to become a part of Frank’s family due to the sad fact that, were he ever to come out back home, he would be killed. He knows Frank’s family may not take it well, but at least there’s the possibility they could embrace him.

As his niece, Lillis radiates kindness and compassion for Frank’s plight, with there never any question that she’d accept him, although she’s less sure about her macho dad (Steve Zahn) and daffy mom (Judy Greer). The ultimate strength of UNCLE FRANK is that nothing plays out quite like you think it will. Characters that are set up as unsympathetic turn out to be utterly decent, making this an ultimately hopeful film.

At the same time, Ball never loses focus of the fact that a man being gay in the South in the fifties/sixties/seventies was dangerous, with Frank struggling to cope with trauma from his past that explains his desperation to stay in the closet. Bettany plays Frank as a real person, meaning one with flaws. He’s a bad drunk and lashes out at Wally more out of a sense of self-loathing than anything else. Bettany plays him as utterly relatable and human whatever your orientation, making UNCLE FRANK the best showcase he’s had in years.

UNCLE FRANK made it’s debut at Sundance earlier this year (in the before times – when COVID-19 was just a whisper) and didn’t walk away with a ton of buzz, but it was snapped up by Amazon Prime in one of the bigger deals of the fest and makes its debut Nov 25th on the service. It’s a terrific movie to check out over the holidays with the family, especially when new movie releases are scant to non-existent. It’s a little gem.

Uncle Frank

GREAT

8

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