Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This story is about a son and his mother and his fake father. The son does not utter words because he is deaf. He keeps mailing with his father. Actually, the person who replies to his mail is not his father but his mother. She escapes from her husband because of his violence. The son, Frankie, loses his memory of childhood, therefore she plays a good father who is a sailor in the mails. One day, she replies to her son that his father gets the bay near the home. The mother comes up with employing a man who can pretend to be the father.After watching this film, to be frank, I like this so much. The reason why it became one of my obsessions is its heartwarming story. I cannot tell you the ending, though, I love the ending because when I watched the scene I could feel the affection between not only, of course, Frankie and his mother but also the son and the fake father. Their performances, especially the role of Frankie, are excellent. I was so moved that I want to recommend this film to my friends.

How could the writer and the director believe in and write such an absurd story is beyond understanding. Dear Frankie relies on a premise that has almost no credibility, Lizzie's action being totally devoid of sens. How could she act like that and still think that it's good for her kid ? Hard to validate this situation.Admitting that point, the script still lacks substance and dynamism. Certain aspects could have been much more exposed, such as Gerard Butler's character who is surprisingly under-developed when he could have brought so much more to the story.Emily Mortimer, as often happens, is irreproachable and almost single-handedly carries this movie.

This is one of those "minimal", British movies, which appeal the viewer for the sober development of the plot and and for the intense acting, and where meanings are to be found more in silences than in dialogues. The relationship mother and child is narrated with delicacy, simplicity, but true pathos, the little Frankie proving so touching in his tender attitudes and look, and the mother relating with him with such concerned affection. No doubt, two great performances. The concept of fatherhood stands out very clearly and the hardest moments are connected with that same concept, being a father not a matter of biological paternity, but something deeper. Inside this family drama, the role of Gerard Butler appears as significant more in relation with the young Frankie than in his affection for Lizzie, and proves unobtrusive and discrete enough to give the story a positive turning point. The landscape is always there to reflect the emotional side of the story, together with a delicate and touching soundtrack. A picture I would suggest to parents, but also to all viewers who still love simple, good stories with some feelings inside.

A gentle drama that would have deserved far better, in terms of reviews and box office. Auerbach depicts perfectly the mother-son relationship, makes that pair's relationship not a minor concern but something secondary. The affecting life of Mortimer and McElhone is described wisely, it's certainly an appropriate setup for a feel-good family drama, with Lizzie and her stranger getting together for a possible happy ending. Dear Frankie is a pleasant and agreeably told film with a surprise as well as a plot twist there. It reminds and resembles I'm Not Scared, both focusing on the foolishness of the adults and the intelligence of the sons. Definitely it's about an enjoyable film.