Frank
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: August 15, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJan 26, 2014
This terrific and sublime experience, and strikingly original film, is mandatory watching for the adventurous viewer. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 27, 2014
Frank is a true original, a film that heads in one direction only to veer off in another, yet never loses sight of where it's going. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonAug 14, 2014
Frank is a genuine original in a summer sea of sameness, and a darkly comedic manifesto against the cultural status quo. Read full review
90
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonAug 12, 2014
The masterstroke of Frank, the film ex-Sidebottom collaborator Jon Ronson has now co-written, is that this time the man in the mask is a modern Mozart. And, unsparingly, Ronson has written himself as the jealous goober who risks everything, with the delusion that he's the smart one. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 28, 2014
A functioning, funny, weirdly touching fable of artistic angst and aspiration, a meditation on fame and its terrors and the metaphoric usefulness of masks and huge fake heads. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaAug 22, 2014
A delightful, oddball surprise. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 15, 2014
You're in for something funny, touching and vital. Director Lenny Abrahamson knows his way around eccentrics; just see "Adam & Paul" or "Garage" or "What Richard Did." And he makes an ideal guide into a bizarro world where music is made on the margins. Read full review
83
HitfixDrew McWeenyAug 16, 2014
Frank rides a really strange tone, and director Lenny Abrahamson deserves credit for how he manages to make the strange and the sad and the funny all feel like it's part of the same film. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranAug 21, 2014
Odd, offbeat, somehow endearing, the bleakly comic Frank has its own kind of charm as well as some pointed, poignant things to say about the mysterious nature of creativity, where it comes from and where it might all go. Read full review
80
The New YorkerAnthony LaneAug 18, 2014
Best of all, we get to witness Fassbender at full tilt — to revel in that gaunt, El Greco mug of his, which, for all its handsomeness, betrays no sunny side, whether here or amid the shenanigans of “X-Men.” Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 15, 2014
As playful as it is, Lenny Abrahamson’s film is mostly a surprisingly earnest story about the compromises and conflicts of art, stardom, and mental illness. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottAug 14, 2014
Mr. Abrahamson’s main achievement, enabled by the sensitive and resourceful cast, is to find a tone that is funny without flippancy, sincere without turning to mush. Read full review
80
The DissolveNoel MurrayAug 12, 2014
Here’s a seemingly twee movie that ultimately, surprisingly argues that some music isn’t for everybody, some people are too broken to fix, and some would-be artists are better off in the audience. Read full review
80
EmpireDamon WiseMay 5, 2014
Dreams of rock stardom become a warped reality in this barking-mad but affecting comedy about the side-effects of being a non-conformist genius. Read full review
80
The GuardianHenry BarnesMar 15, 2014
For a film that champions talent that takes risks, Frank can sometimes feel a little too conventional. The real Sidebottom's wayward genius would be a hard fit for any story arc, but Frank does a good job of dipping into surrealism and pop in equal measure. Read full review
80
The TelegraphAmber WilkinsonJan 26, 2014
Off-beat and punk-spirited. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter DebrugeJan 26, 2014
Helmer Lenny Abrahamson (“Garage,” “Adam & Paul”) puts the pic’s eccentricity to good use, luring in skeptics with jokey surrealism and delivering them to a profoundly moving place. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayAug 21, 2014
Beneath those puppet-headed antics, and true to its title, Frank is improbably, disarmingly honest. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoAug 15, 2014
A film that is always interesting, largely thanks to an entirely committed cast and a writer willing to play with themes like a band improvising until it finds the right tune. There are a few off-key notes but the melody finally comes together. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Aug 13, 2014
Frank is never more endearing than when Fassbender has a mic to his mouth, spitting out the hilariously batshit lyrics of his “most likeable song ever,” or literally singing the praises of his cohorts during an affecting showstopper. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartAug 13, 2014
If Michael Fassbender wears a giant papier-mâché head for most of a film, is he still mesmerizing? Happily, yes. Read full review
75
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreAug 12, 2014
Here’s an eccentric tragicomedy, with music, built to play like gangbusters at Austin’s South by Southwest music-movie fanboy/fangirl festival. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundAug 11, 2014
The film boldly raises the unanswerable question of whether it's better for an artist to safely isolate his work or tweak it a bit so as to share it with the world. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnJan 26, 2014
Though more in love with its silliness than the insights buried inside them, Frank works to amusingly irreverent effect when combining the two. Read full review
70
SlateDana StevensAug 18, 2014
Fassbender spending nearly an entire movie obscured by a giant fake head is such a had-me-at-hello idea that it’s disappointing that Frank never plumbs the fascinating questions it raises about performance, group dynamics, and mental health. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesSep 3, 2014
Director Lenny Abrahamson establishes a twee tone early that renders tinny the transition into melancholy, and it’s a shame the film so clings to Jon’s perspective. The takeaway is as flat as Frank’s mask. Bemused smile, followed by deflated feeling. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)John SemleyAug 21, 2014
Still: the Soronprfbs may be the best fake on-screen punk band since the Stains. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 21, 2014
Walking a line between droll comedy and a darker, more unsettling drama that the filmmakers aren’t quite up to, Frank is an entertaining curio with flashes of inspiration. That’s also a pretty good description of Frank’s music. Read full review
63
USA TodayScott BowlesAug 14, 2014
A clunky-if-earnest comedy about a literal band of misfits led by a singer who never takes off his mascot-size headgear. Ever. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottSep 5, 2014
Yes, that makes Frank weird, but it's the kind of weird I can't get enough of. Read full review
60
CineVueDaniel GreenMay 21, 2014
With Frank, Abrahamson cultivates a mystical hour of prog-based shenanigans before he - and his film - begin to lose their collective heads in a muddled final third. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJan 26, 2014
If you'll pardon the cleverness, Frank takes time to wrap your own cranium around, faults and all, and that's a wonderful thing. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJan 26, 2014
The mash-up of elements combine with a singularly unpleasant roster of characters to create a work of genuinely off-putting quirkiness. Read full review
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