Frank and Penelope – See Sparks Fly
Director: Sean Patrick Flanery
Writer: Sean Patrick Flanery (Screenplay) John Thaddeus (Story)
Starring: Caylee Cowan, Billy Budinich, Kevin Dillon, Sean Patrick Flanery, Johnathon Schaech, Donna D’Errico, Lin Shaye
Plot: A tale of love and violence when a man on his emotional last legs finds a savior seductively dancing in a run-down strip club. And a life most certainly headed off a cliff suddenly becomes redirected – as EVERYTHING is now worth dying for.
Tagline – In a savage land, even the lawless deserve salvation.
Runtime: 1 Hour 52 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Frank and Penelope starts as Frank (Budinich) finds his girlfriend cheating on him, turning to a run-down strip club for a drink, where he meets dancer Penelope (Cowan), as the two start to fall in love, going on the run across the country.
As the two look to start their new life, they find themselves coming across Chisos (Schaech) and his motel, which has something funny about it, leading to the pair finding themselves in a strange environment, where something much bigger is going on.
Thoughts on Frank and Penelope
Characters & Performances – Frank has his heart broken by his wife who he catches cheating on him, sending him down the path to the run-down strip club, he has always followed the rules and now he is going to start living for himself, as he goes on the run with Penelope taking all the risks he never took before. Penelope is the dancer in the run-down club, along with the running a system to steal off clients with her manager, she sees Frank as an easy mark, before falling for him, as someone who could help her escape this world. The pair are two people that were never expecting to meet and now are free to live their own lives together. Chisos is the owner of a motel, a place where he has an operation going on that Frank and Penelope find themselves in the middle off. We get a strange addition to the cast with a nurse that is reading Frank’s journal at his hospital bed, giving us plenty of hints something bigger is about to go down, with this splitting the story between the past and present. Caylee Cowan and Billy Budinich as great in the leading roles, with Caylee Cowan showing such a calming hopeless romantic tone through every scene she is in. Johnathon Schaech brings the creepy side to his character, which only felt like the surface to someone a lot more sinister.
Story – The story here follows an unlikely couple looking to escape their lives that meet and instantly fall in love, leaving going on a road trip, only to find themselves caught in the middle of a sinister group in the middle of nowhere. Frank & Penelope will lean heavily into trying to make a point that they are like Thelma and Louise, escaping the abuse they have suffered and want to drive of in a spontaneous journey of freedom. This will be clear to see with how they are both unleashed to a new perspective on life. Everything on this side of the story is entertaining, it is when we get to the other side of the story that things start getting weaker, with the motel being ran in this way, throws our pair into a strange world and having the nurse reading the journal at a hospital bed, which will fall into the story telling question mark of, are we only learning Frank’s side of the journey, and how does he know what else has been happening? If we are honest, this whole small subplot could have easily been cut out, to give a smoother experience all around.
Themes – Frank and Penelope is a romance thriller that will see the sparks fly in a whirlwind romance between the pair, easily being the strongest part of the movie. When it comes to the thriller side of the film, we will get to see how the couple on the run will need to stay together through the difficult situations they find themselves in. the film will use the locations to crate this place in the middle of nowhere for Chisos operation to run, which will have a scary empty location for a certain moment.
Final Thoughts – Frank and Penelope is a great romance filled thriller, where the sparks between the couple fly.
