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There are only a few things in this movie that are bothersome, but I will get over them, because I should, and this film attempts to take us on a voyage of human behavior and should be allowed to do so. However, Condon and company, including Clive Barker as Executive Producer, dwelled in too many ponds and never got around to the grand lake.
Frank Whale (Ian McKellan) is a lonely forgotten movie director, famous for Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, among others, of which his last few days are represented here vaguely and sometimes with comedic affect; much like his aforementioned works. Given a great deal of time to fill, Whale usually has his way until a mild stroke sends his brain into way-back drive, and he begins to vision the past at almost every turn..., and scene. Based on the fictionalized recount of Frank Whale's remaining days, the movie seems like a dust jacket for this preeminent director, whose working days were cut short because of his out-of-sync style, and perhaps also his grandiose lifestyle. The producers show a suffering man, but we the viewers suffer the most by just seeing the skin and not the whole.
And in a total reversal of the movie's byline, or even its synopsis, there is no heart warming relationship glowing from the scenes between Clayton Boone (Brendan Fraser) and the septuagenarian Frank -- go figure!
The writing has its bouts, for instance, when Frank says of his gardener Boone, "He's never met a princess before, only Queens." This is the purest, most funny line of the whole movie...sorry. If you are a patient one, Lynn Redgrave gives a very loony performance of a maid that is more house mother than servant, and is the epitome of whale's movie characters; both down-to-earth and zany. All-in-all, the writing is not the worst.
Visually good, there are some worthy scenes, especially those concerning Whale and his final destination which is shown repeatedly with a horror motif akin to his 'monster' movies. Though I can see that his movie was made for the big screen; larger than life, of which Frank Whale wanted to be.
On behalf of all movie-goers everywhere, I say, "Ian McKellan is god!" For the others, Brendan Fraser stretches till he pulls a muscle, and Lynn Redgrave comes to life as a pallid, over bearing mother, and the actors that play real-life heroes Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester make me wish for a movie about the making of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. Well, since that probably will not happen, I guess we can just cobble something together in our heads.
[Rating]
Cinematography: 3
Screenplay: 2
Acting: 2
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Overall: 2.33
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