‘Uncle Frank': Alan Ball's Family Saga Feels Like it Was Made in the '90s [Trailer]

Paul Bettany stars in the upcoming Amazon Prime film, “Uncle Frank.” I saw ‘Frank’ at this past January’s Sundance Film Festival, but was utterly bored by the nostalgic ‘90s approach of the storytelling. There really is nothing new to be said in this story. Thus, I haven’t written a review just yet.

Bettany sheds his British accent for a Southern twang as the title character, a gay man who has spent most of his life hiding his sexuality due to his very conservative family. However, when his young niece Beth Bledsoe (Sophia Lillis) moves to study at the same New York University, where Frank teaches literature, things change, she learns his secret, and he starts to open up a little bit more, even introducing Beth to his longtime partner Walid Nadeem (Peter Macdissi)

The film eventually turns into a road trip narrative when Frank’s father — Beth’s grandfather — dies and they are both forced to reluctantly return home for the funeral. Suffice to say, the result is a period piece, the film is set in 1973, with all of the usual cinematic beats of family dysfunction, we’ve seen this so many other times before. It’s not simply that “Uncle Frank” is clichéd or uses contrived narrative devices, it also sugarcoats its finale in souring and painful ways.

The film, which also stars Judy Greer, Steve Zahn, Lois Smith, Margo Martindale, and Stephen Root, was clearly made with earnestly good intentions, but it strives so hard to be loved that its persuading nature almost pummels you to submission. The film is written and directed by Alan Ball who is best known for his work as the writer of “American Beauty,” as well as the creator of HBO’s“Six Feet Under” and “True Blood.”

“Uncle Frank” arrives on Amazon Prime Video on November 25.