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Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: For all its sentimental superficiality, Dear Frankie is emotionally affecting. Read more
Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune: Both Mortimer and McElhone stitch together this carefully modulated little character piece, with McElhone shining particularly bright as Frankie. Read more
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: A wrenchingly sweet and beautifully acted film that keeps surprising us -- it never takes us where we think it's going, but always where we want to go. Read more
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: Auerbach has resurrected Butler's career, buried in the catacombs of a Parisian opera house, and gotten an unforgettable performance from Mortimer. Read more
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: It's a terrific film. Read more
Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: The film works as a highlight tape for the cast and will satisfy any desire you have to be driven to the brink of tears. Read more
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: This wee Scottish drama takes a mawkish premise and, by playing its cards close to the vest, imbues it with quiet, careworn dignity. Read more
Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: Dear Frankie's surprises are few and low-key, but the story wraps up nicely. Read more
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: The pain that's evoked in this small, warm film -- the deep and unspoken yearning of child -- is as universal as it is heartbreaking. Read more
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Director Auerbach and her able cast dial down the volume on the performances. Read more
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: A Scottish weepie of such bathos and balderdash that it deserves a drinking game in its rotten honor: Bend an elbow every time you've underestimated how low screenwriter Andrea Gibb and director Shona Auerbach will go to wring a tear. Read more
Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: One false note from actors or director, and the movie would collapse under the weight of fulfilling too many wishes. But it stays afloat with grace and even charm. Read more
Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: The movie's glib trafficking in illness, death and pinched little faces to jury-rig our emotional responses ... lost me at hello. Read more
Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: A small movie with a big soul and no easy formula for the happiness of its big-hearted characters. Read more
Gene Seymour, Newsday: Never conspicuously begs for your empathy and neither does Mortimer, who carefully metes out her character's skittish mannerisms. Read more
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Unfortunately, Dear Frankie isn't content to just tug at our heartstrings. It has to yank at them, too. Read more
Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: It is a sweet, wonderfully acted cameo of a movie about the lengths to which a lioness will go to protect her cub. Read more
Stephen Holden, New York Times: A fraudulent yarn riddled with plot holes and improbabilities and topped by a cynical final twist that pulls the rug out from under the story. Read more
Rex Reed, New York Observer: A soft-hearted but soberly made little movie that gives sentimentality a good name. Read more
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: A bittersweet bonbon of a drama, full of the old fashioned literary touches that a well-written letter still can deliver in the age of e-mail. Read more
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: This sounds, I know, like the plot of a melodramatic tearjerker, but the filmmakers work close to the bone, finding emotional truth in hard, lonely lives. Read more
Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: In the insightful hands of first-time filmmaker Shona Auerbach and veteran actors who play their roles with intelligence, the movie deftly ducks the schmaltz. Read more
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Gives us a spoonful of medicine to make the sugar go down. Depending on your tolerance, it just may go down a treat. Read more
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: There is no unnecessary dialogue, and Auerbach encourages us to listen closely and to study the situation. We are required to learn truths slowly, at the same pace as the characters. Read more
Claudia Puig, USA Today: An endearing, occasionally sentimental story told with depth and substance. Read more
David Rooney, Variety: Material that might have turned to standard dysfunctional family treacle in other hands is given stirring poignancy, warmth and emotional insight. Read more
Jessica Winter, Village Voice: The pat emotions contradict the lazily inconclusive life-goes-on ending, and the moral seems to be that kids just want to be lied to. Read more
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: I'm pleased to report that, within this overly familiar trope, there's plenty of room for small surprises, not the least of which are delightful, understated performances all around. Read more