Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will show you a 2012 sci-fi comedy film,
titled Robot & Frank. Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care.
In the near future, in Cold Spring, New York; ex-convict Frank Weld lives alone in the woods
and tries to ignore the fact he suffers mental deterioration and dementia, causing him to have
disorientation and memory loss. This makes him do things like saying he's been at a restaurant
that actually closed five years ago, thinking his son is still in college, or trying to rob his own
house in the middle of the night. He also lives like a pig that never cleans, and won't even open
the curtains to allow sunlight into his home. The one thing he leaves the house for is going to the
library, of which he's the only user left because of the decline of print media - this is why it
will be soon be transformed into a community center. Frank not only likes going there to
pick up more books though, he also likes seeing the librarian Jennifer, who he has a crush on.
After every library run, he stops by the beauty shop nearby and steals a little something for
his collection. One afternoon, he's visited by his son Hunter, who drives there every weekend,
cutting the time he spends with his own family for it. He's really worried about his father's
condition, which is worse every time he talks to him, and he also wants to spend more time with
his own children, but since Frank refuses to go to a nursing home, Hunter has instead brought him a
robot programmed to be a butler and a therapeutic care provider. Frank doesn't want anything to do
with it either, even saying his wife won't like it, making Hunter remind him he's been divorced
for thirty years and his mom doesn't live there anymore. Hunter won't listen to any excuses:
the robot stays or he will send Frank to a memory center, because he doesn't want his father's death
to be his fault. Unable to find a way to turn the robot off, Frank allows it to do the chores
to get it off his back. The robot not only cleans the entire house, it also goes grocery shopping
and cooks healthy meals. It also wakes Frank up quite early in the morning, claiming they need
to establish a routine to help keep him orientated - between this and the healthy meals, Frank gets
very annoyed by the robot, especially when it asks him to start a garden, saying he needs a
project to keep his mind stimulated. The garden ends up being taken care of by only the robot,
but Frank does end up slowly accepting the robot into his life in other ways - it cooks his meals,
cuts his hair, keeps his house clean, and simply provides him company. They go for hikes together,
too, which Frank isn't a big fan of, but the robot quickly learns it can get Frank to do things for
the benefit of his health if it says that if he doesn't, it'll call Hunter to take him to the
memory center or that it will be sent back to the warehouse and have his memory wiped for failing at
saving his life. There's one thing he doesn't let the robot do though, and that's entering
the library with him. While it waits outside and gets bothered by children, Frank visits Jennifer,
only to find her chatting to a young man called Jake Finn, a rich young developer at the head of
the library renovation project that would love to talk more to Frank in the future because
he lived through the era where print media was the only option and he finds that fascinating.
But for now, he must leave because he's rather busy, and once he's gone, Jennifer shows him
the changes they're doing to the library. All the little, random novels will be recycled, but there
are a few special editions of classics like Don Quixote that will be taken away for conservation.
Jennifer wishes she could keep them for herself. When he leaves the library, Frank finds the robot
getting bothered by children, and after sending them away, he tells it that if someone doesn't
leave after it asks them to, then it should say "self destruct sequence initialized" and start
counting down from ten to scare them off. Next they go to the beauty shop, which Frank calls
Harry's, like the restaurant that used to be in its place. He tries to steal a little figurine,
but he's forced to leave it behind when the shop lady almost catches him in the act. On their way
home however, he finds out the robot has taken the figurine for him. It knows the definition of terms
like stealing and shoplifting, but it has no sense of morals, and the law hasn't been programmed into
it either. Frank finds himself really liking this side of the robot and decides to teach it how to
pick locks, calling it the project that can keep him stimulated instead of the garden. This gives
him an idea, and so Fank breaks his own rule and takes the robot into the library with him so it
can learn where everything, especially the antique books, is located. They come across Jennifer,
who tells them about an incoming fundraiser party and asks Frank to be her plus one,
which Frank accepts. Afterward, he and the robot check out the security system outside the library,
and Frank finally admits he wants to come at night and steal the old copy of Don Quixote.
The robot doesn't think it's a very good idea because respecting Frank's schedule is important
to keep him orientated, but Frank convinces it to help him by pointing out how stimulated this
new project is keeping him - he hasn't felt this alive in a while. Hunter calls him one evening
to scold his father for having complained about the robot to his sister, who is now harassing
him to take the robot back. Frank tells him he's changed his mind and wants to keep it,
surprising Hunter when he tells him to spend more time with his kids. After they hang up,
Frank worries the robot has been telling him about their secret project, but the robot promises
building trust by respecting privacy is part of his health care program. Later in the evening,
they easily break into the library thanks to Frank's lifelong experience as a cat burglar.
The robot takes Don Quixote and tells Frank they need to leave when it notices he's starting to
get disorientated and asks weird questions like why it's wearing a space helmet. The duo leaves
the library safely, but Frank forgets his glasses on the table. When they make it home, Frank is so
pumped about their success that he doesn't want to go to bed yet, and this is taking its toll on him:
he starts talking to the robot believing it is his son, showing regret over missing so much of his
life in prison that he couldn't see him grow up and couldn't even recognize him the first time he
saw him after he was released. The next morning, Frank gets a call from his daughter Madison, who
is away on a trip to Turkmenistan. She's learned through Hunter that Frank is keeping the robot
and believes her brother is abandoning him with a machine, and Frank can't help responding Hunter
is at least doing something. Madison apologizes for not being around and reminds him traveling
is what she does for a living. When night falls, Frank and the robot go to the fundraiser party
with the intention of gifting the Don Quixote to Jennifer, but they cancel that plan when she
refers to the robbery as something horrible. While Jennifer is mingling with the donors, Frank can't
help noticing Jake is talking to Sheriff Rowlings while glancing at him. Jake decides to approach
him then to ask him if he's ever been to prison and if he wears reading glasses before asking him
not to come around anymore. When Jennifer finds him afterward, Frank has become a little paranoid
and starts to wonder if this whole deal isn't just a scam because these donors are too loaded.
The next day, Frank makes the robot show him his memory of the party, getting jealous that the
robot can recall things so easily. Noticing all the expensive jewelry the guests were wearing,
he starts planning their next job, which the robot protests against again. Frank reminds him this
kind of activity is stimulating him more than the dumb garden, and promises he'll go all over the
potential risks to make it a mistake-proof job. The robot accepts Frank doing only the casing
as research to keep him active. The duo starts going to Jake's house to watch it from afar and
learn all the details about Jake's and his wife's daily routine and the house's security systems.
While watching, they talk about a variety of subjects, and Frank starts wondering how much
of what they do is the robot's choice and not just programming. The robot points out
it's all programming, which Frank doesn't believe because of the time it had expressed not wanting
its memory getting erased. To his surprise, the robot admits it only said that to coerce Frank,
not because it has any actual wishes of his own. It is extremely aware of the fact it is not alive,
and this makes Frank uncomfortable. One evening, while working on his plans, Jennifer knocks on the
door, saying she's come over for dinner. Frank had completely forgotten about it,
but instead of admitting it, he tells her he's still getting ready and to come back
later. Jennifer leaves looking rather hurt after putting down the pie she's brought on the porch.
The next day, Frank wraps up Don Quixote and goes to the library with the intention of
gifting it to her, but he hears the modern music coming from the building and changes his mind.
The two of them continue to watch Jake throughout the week, until one day,
their planning and scheming is interrupted when Madison shows up of nowhere at the house. She's
been thinking a lot about how she hasn't been there for Frank, so she's come to save him from
the robot, or so she claims. Frank tries to tell her he likes the robot, but she ignores him and
uses the password she got from Hunter to shut it down. Even if he has his daughter's company now,
Frank misses the robot and the way it cared for him, which Madison doesn't even start to match.
As a way of protest, he starts behaving like a pig again, transforming the house back into
a dump in just one day. But when he wakes up one morning, he finds every room is spotlessly clean,
and Madison says she pulled an all-nighter to achieve it. Frank doesn't believe her and calls
out her hypocrisy for having used the robot, and after explaining how he needs it because it's his
friend, she gives in and accepts to turn it on again as long as he promises they won't entirely
depend on it to live. Later in the evening, Frank explains his plan to steal the diamonds from
Jake's house to the robot, who admits it's pretty good but still worries about Franks's health,
so it agrees to do it only if Frank accepts a new diet from now on. At Jake's, they wait for
the couple to leave, then enter the house through a door not covered by the alarm system, because
Franks knows by experience all security systems have a blind spot. Then the robot brute-forces the
safe, a job that usually would take a thief weeks, but a robot can do in minutes. The only issue they
come across is the couple returning earlier than expected when they are about to leave the area,
but they just need to wait for them to get distracted before successfully sneaking out.
The next day, while Frank and Madison are sunbathing and sharing a drink, the robot allows
two guests to enter the house: Jake and Rowlings. Jake is sure Frank was the one to steal the book
and now his diamonds and wants Rowling to arrest him, but the sheriff plays nice for now and says
he doesn't think Frank could've pulled it at his age, so he wants him to be their consultant. Frank
kicks them both out without even considering the offer. When the time comes for Madison to
go back to his job, Frank gifts her a pair of diamond earrings as a donation to her cause,
swearing it's leftover from the old days and not Jake's. She leaves after admitting she was wrong
about the robot, and as Frank watches her drive away, he notices a van parked nearby: he's being
watched. Worried about getting caught, he rushes back inside and starts burning all the evidence,
but refuses to delete the robot's memory when it points out its hard drive is evidence as well. The
only problem left is the actual diamonds, and when the robot expresses concern about how erratically
Frank is behaving, it gives him an idea. He gets into bed and makes the robot call Hunter to tell
him he's dying. When Hunter comes to visit him, he exaggerates some fake symptoms and gives him
a heartfelt speech admitting he's been an absent father and thanking him for all he's done for him.
Once he has Hunter eating out of his palm, he gives a briefcase and asks him to hide it,
which Hunter only accepts to do when Frank mentions he wants to go out clean. Hunter puts the
briefcase in the trunk of his car but when he's about to leave, he's stopped by Jake, Rowlings,
and his men, who open the trunk and reveal the contents of the bag, only to find the trinkets
from the beauty shop. Jake says this should already count as probable cause, so they enter
the house to search it, which Franks allows them to do because he's sure they won't find anything.
Realizing he's been manipulated, Hunter gets mad at Frank and says not having been raised by him
is a good thing after all. The police can't find the diamonds, so Jake says they should check the
robot's memory. Frank tries to stop them, but the men won't listen - luckily for Frank though,
the robot remembers the trick his owner taught him and when the men come closer,
he pretends to initialize his self-destruct program. Everyone runs outside except Hunter,
who knows it's a lie, so Frank takes the chance to sneak around the house and get in his car,
which he hasn't driven in a long time. After picking up the robot through the back door,
he drives to the town, ignoring his companion's request to delete his memory.
They arrive at the library and the robot picks the lock so they can get in and see Jennifer,
who Frank apologizes to and admits having stolen the Don Quixote. He wants to tell her more about
his life, but he suddenly gets distracted when he sees some pictures on the wall and has a shocking
realization: Jennifer is his ex-wife and mother of his children, but because of his memory problems,
he didn't recognize her after he was freed from jail because she looks older.
This is too much for him to take, so after kissing her, he leaves the library and returns home,
where Hunter and the police are still waiting for him. He and the robot rush inside and lock
the door behind them before Frank starts trying to make a new plan to escape.
The robot once again tries to convince him that deleting its memory is the best option,
because then things can go back to normal and Frank can plan his next job.
As the robot starts repeating all the philosophy behind burglary Frank taught it, he realizes how
far he's gone with this obsession of his and finally comes to terms with what he has to do.
The robot opens a compartment on its back and Frank presses the button inside it,
effectively deleting all the memories in its hard drive. Sometime later, Frank is living in
a nursing home, where Jennifer, Madison, and Hunter visit him often. One day, after having
lunch together as a family, he slips a little piece of paper in Hunter's hand with a note
that implies the diamonds have been hidden under the tomatoes in the garden the robot had started.