New York City, 1976. There’s a party going on in one of the more spacious apartments in Manhattan. Inside, people are drinking, smoking, and having sex, things you’d expect at a party. Outside, on the fire escape, a college professor engages in a discussion with a colleague about the current political state of affairs. Both of them are smoking, of course. It is at this moment that the professor responds to a remark with, “I have more faith in the system than you, my friend.” Now, that’s a totally run-of-the-mill thing for a person to say in a topical discussion, except for the fact that this college professor is Frank Bledsoe, a gay man. All the people having sex in his apartment? They’re also queer. And the stuff they’re smoking? marijuana. Being gay, having gay sex, and doing pot—all things you could be arrested for in 1976. And Frank Bledsoe is out on the fire escape, smoking, saying that he trusts the system.
Uncle Frank is very much the college-professor-saying-he-trusts-the-system-while-smoking-on-a-fire-escape-during-a-party-in-1976 of movies, a film that manages to have some funny and heartwarming moments but ultimately dragged down by commentary that offers nothing new or interesting to say. The plot follows Beth Bledsoe (Sophia Lillis), who, after moving to from South Carolina to NYC for college, discovers that her uncle, Frank (Paul Bettany), is gay and has been keeping his relationship with his boyfriend, Walid “Wally” Nadeem (Peter Macdissi), a secret from the rest of their family. When Frank’s father suddenly passes away, all three of them decide to make the journey down south to attend the funeral. On this journey, Beth is forced to confront her relationship with her family, Walid, his relationship with Frank, and Frank, his harsh and at times abusive relationship with his father.
Problems arise when it becomes clear that Uncle Frank’s plot is heavily weighted towards the latter of those three narratives. Having the film focus on a gay man’s relationship with his family isn’t a bad choice, but when it quickly moves to outshine the other storylines, their continued inclusion can sometimes feel like an encumbrance. Beth is introduced in the beginning of the film as the main character, but after she finds out her uncle is gay, her journey of self-discovery is cut short as Frank’s struggle moves into the spotlight, making her character seem like nothing more than a vehicle for the audience to find out he was gay all along. This could have easily been balanced by having the film be from Frank’s point of view from the very beginning so the audience could experience the stress of coming out from his perspective, which would have been more in line with the themes the film goes on to tackle.
Once Frank, Beth, and Wally finally hit the road the story finally feels like it’s getting underway, but for a road trip movie, not much emphasis is placed on Frank and Beth’s journey. With the weight that comes with their decision to drive home, you’d think the trip would take up a more significant portion of the film, or would at least be significant to the development of their relationship as uncle and niece, but the few scenes they have together from here on out don’t advance their story at all. On a scene-by-scene level, the writing is decent and Bettany and Lillis give great performances, but taken in aggregate, they don’t amount to much. The same could be said about many other aspects of the film—they work in the moment, but don’t hold up in the larger narrative.
Despite all of that and Paul Bettany giving the best performance I’ve ever seen from him, Peter Macdissi absolutely steals the show as Wally and almost manages to redeem the entire film. His concern for Frank as he deals with his family provides the movie with a solid emotional core, and hell, it’s just nice to see two guys in an imperfect but loving and fulfilling relationship on screen. Wally also has family issues like Frank does, and though they aren’t given as much foregrounding because of the focus on Frank and Beth, I can see where this could’ve been a movie about both of them working through their respective familial struggles. While I think Uncle Frank fails in its broader commentary on LGBTQ+ people and their families, it succeeds in portraying those people with all of their anguish and joy. In 2020, however, that might not be enough.
The movie does end on happy note, but even though I much prefer stories where queer suffering isn’t the be-all and end-all of our existence, the entire state of the story up to that point just doesn’t support the “happily ever after” vibe Uncle Frank is going for. The movie shows us things about certain characters that would lead us to believe they are not people worth sympathizing with, let alone spending extended periods of time with, but then says that they’re all actually fine and everything is cool, without putting an onus on those people to learn and grow. It prefers negative peace to positive change, all while somewhat insidiously implying that coming out to your family is something all queer people must do, regardless of how they’ll react. Rather than reckon with the process of coming out or what it means for your identity to draw divisions in your family, Uncle Frank is happy to wrap up its story with a bow on top, and then go outside for a smoke.
2.5/5 STARS