Dear Frankie (2004)

Idea: Frankie (Jack McElhone) and his mother Lizzie (Emily Mortimer) move frequently, so he keeps in contact with his father through letters. Lizzie answers Frankie's letters, and, with the day of his father's visit fast approaching, Lizzie does what any mother would do. She hires a stranger (Gerard Butler) to play Frankie's dad for the week-end.

Oh, c'mon. You know it's sweet and cute and the set-up for lots of fun and misunderstandings.

Andrea Gibb's plot has two "reveals" (I wouldn't exactly call them twists): one you can see coming from a mile off and the other you don't. One, then one I saw coming, could be seen as manipulative.

But it wasn't. And I owe that to the natural interaction of Mortimer and McElhone. I've been a sucker for Mortimer since Lovely & Amazing because that film was so well done that I was a sucker for everyone in it. Mortimer has such sweetness and light to her that it's all the more effecting when she is pushed down by circumstance.

McElhone was also wonderful because he played Frankie in such a way that he seemed unaware of the sadness and loneliness that he should have been carrying around. What's more, Gibb's screenplay didn't reduce him to the now stereotype of being the parent. Mortimer's character was still the adult no matter how far or how fast she ran.

Oh, and Mary Riggans with her cute little no chin.

Butler remains quite sexy and one of my top choice for the new bond. His attachment to Frankie and Lizzie was completely normal and natural, but Butler let it hint at past tragedy or even a failure.

So my hat's off to Shona Auberbach for her first feature film. In the hands of a lesser talent, it would have come across as trite and saccharine. Instead, it was something that awed me.

Plus Sarah loved it. A