Frankie & Alice (2014)

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Great film with a good story (sadly true) and terrific acting from Halle Berry. As the story unfolds the film is slow and mesmerising, with a great soundtrack and spot-on fashion for the period. It's interesting, dramatic and sensitive without being mawkish, I loved it. It's not a new theme, but this one feels very real, one to recommend.

. . . which progressed to GOTHIKA in 2003, America's most self-flagellating actress--Halle Berry--deftly plays another psychiatric basket case in FRANKIE & ALICE. Her latest is not a perfect movie. For one thing, it could have included more comic relief scenes of Ms. Berry in Whiteface, whistling Dixie, in order to break the occasionally uncomfortable build-ups of tension. But the Right-to-Life agenda is sandwiched so delicately into FRANKIE & ALICE that many Pro-Choicers will not even realize it's there. Ms. Berry performs most of the trademark moves her groupies love, such as sitting forlornly on the floor under a running shower clutching her shins to conceal her private parts, which she's done in at least five films now. This is definitely a "chick flick" (the dead give-away for this genre is that the strippers--including Ms. Berry's character here--never wear less than a bikini, and the extras playing the fake strip club customers go bananas anyway).

I did not realize that Frankie and Alice was a 2010 film until I looked it up at IMDb. Although, I did notice while viewing the film that Halle looked incredible and youthful as the lead character in the title role of Frankie. This is the second time that Ms. Berry has been on screen as an exotic dancer, she was less memorable in that short lived role in The Last Boyscout. Frankie Murdock (Halle Berry) comes across as someone who knows what she has to do to survive her circumstances how to pick a mark to get paid and even hands out vocational advice to coworkers. We find out however, through her erratic behavior it is revealed that she is not as well put together as she first seems. I knew from the trailer that the film dealt with multiple personality disorder or whatever is the current clinical name for split personalities, so the film The Three Faces of Eve came to mind as I attentively watched the story unfold. Through a series of flashbacks we see Frankie as a child and a young woman and eventually learn and understand the root of her mental illness as she undergoes treatment with Dr. Oz (Stellan Skarsgard). I would love to see Mr. Skarsgard step outside of his character, he has this Zoolander approach to acting, no matter what persona he is portraying it's always the same look. Ms. Berry on the other hand was on point she was emotionally engaging, showing a range that was both compelling and evoked compassion for what her character had endured. Her personality was splintered; her experiences caused her coping mechanisms into overdrive. Halle Berry proves that the title of 'Oscar winner' is well deserved. She played the role very convincingly with Oz and against the other key characters in the film her mother Edna (Phylicia Rashad) and her sister Maxine (Miranda Bailey oops, I mean Chandra Wilson). I enjoyed this story because it was interesting and not a new construct, it was nice to see the bad guy in the usual places, but to find a completely unexpected bad guy in this film was bittersweet. The first half hour or so became a bit annoying with all the jumping around, but not enough to reduce the entertainment value.

The question I had, was, Dr.Oz and his LSD experiments that Frankiesaid made him"responsible for the Grateful Dead", an older Owsley? Doctors of Psyciatry were experimenting with l222 earlier than the 70's, like around 1967. Was this a real character?If so , he was responsible for rock as we knew it and also Steve Jobs (to name a few) Brings a whole new meaning to the film. It says based on a true story. Who's true story? Anybody know the name of the book or Doctor? Director tried to make an interesting movie for adults, however, there are so little left that I suppose some more irrelevant 70's scenes and more sex would have satisfied the critics. We need more learned Critics is my opinion.