Dear Frankie: love letters straight from the heart

Last night Hanks and I watched Dear Frankie, a simple, sweet movie about a deaf 9-year-old boy whose mother has him believing that his father has been away at sea for years. The kid faithfully writes letters to his "da", and receives replies secretly penned by his mom. She manages to keep up this well-meaning deception until her son discovers that the ship his father is supposed to be on will be docking at their town's port. The mom is then forced to hire a stranger to pretend to be the dad for a day, but the ruse leads to some unexpected twists.

There's really nothing extraordinary about the movie, except for the wonderfully sincere, sensitive performances from the all-Scottish cast, including Emily Mortimer, who plays the mother, and young Jack McElhone, who plays the boy Frankie. But the highlight of this film for me is the oh-so-sexy Gerard Butler, who capably fills the short but significant role of the fake father... not to mention fills a leather jacket to sheer perfection! As the mysterious, gruff but gentle stranger, Gerry oozes quiet masculine strength and gives off pheromonal hints of both danger and vulnerability. He also shows how subtle can be sensual in one of the best scenes of movie, where he and Emily Mortimer just stare at each other in complete silence for a solid 10 seconds (what I wouldn't give to have him stare at me like that for hours! :p).

That Gerard Butler is so damn fiiiiine may come as a mere bonus to most, but to me, Dear Frankie is worth seeing if only for the pleasure of laying eyes on him. If hot Scots don't float your boat though, go see the movie anyway-- it's touching but not treacly, charming but not cute, and if it doesn't tug at your heart strings then I'm the last queen of Scotland.

P.S. Thanks to Shirley for lending us the DVD (which actually belongs to her friend Kato). Shirl now agrees with me that Gerard Butler is hot, hot stuff. Hehe.