Bobby taught me about opera and certain types of pop music whenever I used to stop by and see him as a kid, and he also introduced me to the idea of appreciating art, film, and literature. I didn’t quite realize it at the time, but Bobby certainly taught me the importance of education, culture, and, to some extent, critical thinking. I also didn’t realize at the time that Bobby was, for lack of a better word, different. He was gay, of course, but my family–old-school Italian Catholics–didn’t speak of it. No one wondered out loud why Bobby lived at home or never got married. He was unquestionably loved, but he was always at a slight remove from the rest of the clan. And when he died at age 47 in 1995 from complications related to AIDS, no one spoke out loud about that either. He and I were estranged for a while as adults because of reasons that had nothing to do with any of this, and I regret that we weren’t as close in later years. But seeing the movie Uncle Frank has made me think about my cousin, miss him a bit, and want to thank him for the way he patiently spent time with me and taught me things I might not have otherwise known. It’s only when Beth herself leaves home to attend NYU that she learns the secret he has kept from the family for years–a secret that finally comes out to his semi-estranged family when both he and Beth return home for the funeral of Frank’s father and Beth’s grandfather (Stephen Root), the person at the heart of Frank’s separation from the rest of the Bledsoes. Six Feet Under and True Blood creator Alan Ball wrote and directed this intimate comedy/drama/road movie, in which fantastic work by Bettany, Lillis (who we believe has an Oscar in her future as her young career moves forward) and Peter Macdissi as Frank’s longtime partner Wally (Walid) make up for the pre-programmed feel of Ball’s script. Macdissi’s compassion, along with Bettany’s dignity and humanity, add a most welcome emotional heft to the story, which does a lot more to flesh out its leads than the family to which Bettany’s Frank must reluctantly return. But even they have a hard time riding the waves of histrionics during the film’s third act, in which confession after confession is followed by hugs and forgiveness in overwrought yet still oddly rote fashion. There are plenty of grace notes throughout the film, such as Beth’s unconditional acceptance of her uncle’s sexuality (he actually enlists a friend to pose as his Jewish girlfriend when family members come to visit New York), and Wally’s heartbreaking phone call home to his mother in Saudi Arabia, whom he can never, ever come out to. But then there are the Green Book-like episodes in which Frank, Beth, and Wally (who finds a way to hop on the trip against Frank’s wishes) avoid running into bigotry as they drive into the Deep South, which seem more like plot points that Ball felt obligated to check off on a list. Even with its eventual descent into mawkishness, Uncle Frank is engaging enough thanks to its trio of leads, and there are enough breezily humorous and humane moments to offset the turgidly predictable plot points later on. It may not be an especially deep movie (Ball might need the larger canvas of episodic television for his best work), but its heart is always in the right place.
