Frank and Penelope (2022) Poster

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6/10
An entertaining, but off balance, b-movie drama/thriller/comedy/horror
nicolasroop8 June 2022
Ok, I'm going to start off the review by saying this, this is not a good film. It is crass, poorly written and overbaked. However, it was a very entertaining one thanks to the main actor and actress. Their story was energetic, fun and the chemistry between the duo grew on me throughout the film. On the other hand, the acting ranged from very over the top to just plain bad, especially from the people playing the villians and the vast majority of everyone who isn't Frank or Penelope. Also, some of the plot points felt hamfisted into the story, or mashed in from other, much better films. I feel if the director/writer didn't include so many random storylines to pad out the runtime, it would've made for a much better film. The genre bending should've been left out as well. Should've stuck with the erotic drama/thriller It would've shaved some time off that almost 2 hour runtime and it would've helped the pacing feel more vibrant, violent and fun. Sometimes, it's riviting and provocative. Other times, it is completely idiot and on the same level as a scifi channel original. I do admire the filmmakers for trying because it was oddly entertaining and it kept my interest throughout, in an unapologetic kind of a way. Overall, I'd say if you have nothing better to watch, it's not the worst thing out there to watch. You will laugh, you will roll your eyes, but you will probably make it to the end and not feel bad about watching it. 3 dynamic duos out of 5.
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4/10
Underwhelming and Amateurish Delivery.
shuswap-8355712 July 2022
Straight up, this film is very low budget, the story is old, the script is lame and the acting is sub-par. All the characters are cookie cutter Hollywood stereotypes. There's nothing original here thanks to the dull redneck inspired dialogue and the story has been told much better in many other films. Skip this mess and watch Wild At Heart directed by David Lynch instead.
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6/10
Better than Hollywood
hampersnow-4136916 July 2022
Frank and Penelope is not a great movie, but it is a very good one, charming and entertaining and most definitely better than anything big-budget Hollywood is churning out. Filled with B-list actors, and everyone giving it their all, the movie could have used a bit of trimming . Still I was rooting for the 2 leads, who had great chemistry and it was all played to a great soundtrack and shot well. I hate the new woke Hollywood, love well done indies and this is worth a watch.
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3/10
Pretty bad acting....
psucat-2454213 July 2022
The story kind of grew on you, although it was painful taking the baby steps to reveal the plot. And you really had to focus to understand what the heck was going on in some places, but it was interesting even if it has been done many times before.

My main problem is the really bad acting from the 2 main characters Frank and Penelope. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be bad on purpose, but it was hard to watch in a few places. They are a likeable couple, but man the acting needs work. I've seen Caylee Cowan in another movie and her acting was very similar, so either this style is her niche, or she is just getting by on her looks.

Anyway, it was watchable, but you won't remember it in a few weeks.
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7/10
Thelma & Louise Meet Some Cannibals
stevendbeard8 June 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I saw Frank and Penelope, starring Billy Budinich-Untitled Murder Project 2.0_tv, Up North_tv; Caylee Cowan-Willy's Wonderland, Sunrise in Heaven; Johnathon Schaech-DC's Legends of Tomorrow_tv, Prom Night_2008 and Donna D'Errico-Austin Powers in Goldmember, Baywatch_tv.

This movie is written and directed by Sean Patrick Flanery-The Boys_tv, The Boondock Saints, Dexter_tv-and he even has a small cameo in it, as well as a few others. Billy plays a man that needs a change of scenery after catching his wife with another man. Billy stumbles across Caylee at a strip club-she works there-and together, they go on a road trip, after she quits her job of course. Sean plays Caylees boss. Billy and Caylee then meet Johnathon in an out of the way, off the beaten path town that is really a tourist trap. You see, Johnathon is a cult leader that practices sin eating, which basically means that he and his flock are cannibals-they eat the sins of their victims. Donna is one of Jonathons flock. It's kind of like Thelma and Louise meet some cannibals. I don't know if Sean is planning a sequel or not but the movie ends in a cliff hanger, as if there will be a part 2.

It's rated R for violence, language, drug use and sexual content-including nudity-and has a running time of 1 hour & 52 minutes.

I enjoyed it and would buy it on DVD.
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3/10
Not crazy enough.
ocosis18 August 2022
A road / desert movie that feels half baked at best. For real kooky characters in a similar vein, see David Lynch's Wild At Heart, or Tony Scott's True Romance, as these movies do this type of story line much, much better. I tried to like this movie. But it just felt bland.

The pee at the end was a nice touch.
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7/10
Don't complain - Just smile, as what this movie will make you
OnlyGrit13 December 2022
Wannabe Tarantino?

Poor acting?

No script? No story?

Slow? Boring?

Shove all those complaints away and just watch this movie, which for sure will put a smile on your face.

Frank and Penelope is what I call pain and simple entertainment. The movie does what many others have done, it's style, although unique, is not really unique, it's actors act too hard, it's story goes everywhere and has everything, and in the end what you get is a way better compilation that what Hollywood has been churning lately.

From a movie making standpoint, the direction, editing, cinematography, and even writing are pretty good. Everything does come together quite well. But what really keeps this movie on pace is the lead actors, who share great chemistry and show how overacting can be entertaining acting!!

Recommended!!
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5/10
Gender Twisting Road Trip Film
stevesinger-200117 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
"Frank and Penelope" is a gender-twisting little film that desperately wants to be a Quentin Tarantino film, and takes its queues from several of them. As we begin, Frank is coming home to his wife, and catches her in the act of screwing another man. He drives away and goes to a strip club, where he meets stripper Penelope. He falls for her packaged sweet-talk (she is, of course, a "movie stripper" who doesn't come with a time-zone of actually stripping), and after saving her from her nasty boss, the two of them drive away. They start on a road trip, but end up meeting up with a very odd family and things go downhill from there...

The biggest problem with "Frank and Penelope" is that I never for one second cared about the two titular characters. Billy Budinich's "Frank" turns on a dime from a heartbroken husband to a wife-beater wearing cool guy, and we're given no reason to be engaged with him. Caylee Cowan is drop-dead gorgeous as Penelope and spends most of the movie in sexy outfits, but she talks in a Barbie-doll voice and is literally given zero character beyond that she's really hot, and her reaction to every situation is to flirt and act sexy (which somehow causes whoever she is dealing with to become a drooling cartoon character). And despite what some characters try to convince us, we never believe that their relationship is anything beyond Frank having the hots for this gorgeous stripper and Penelope just messing around. And that drags the film down. The story is also a bit all over the place, and in a movie like this the plot needs to be tight -- in this flick, we are left hanging on the fate of several characters (including a couple of important ones), major plot lines are just ended suddenly, etc.

"Frank and Penelope" is a gallant effort, but it just doesn't succeed. Based on the ending, it's clearly intended to be first of several films, so maybe the next time will be more successful.
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6/10
You like Pretty?
nogodnomasters12 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Frank (Billy Budinich) arrives home early to surprise his wife and he is the one who gets surprised. He ends up at the "End of the Rainbow" where he meets a friendly dancer who quietly lifts his credit card. After a ruckus with the owner the two of them take off in his Prius down a Texan road only later to trade it in on a vintage muscle machine. They travel down the road to Motel Quicksilver (Motel Hell already taken.) which used to service a local mercury mine. We discover in short order (SPOILER) that they are devout Christians doing the Lord's work by punishing sinners and serving long pig, a trapped miner's tradition. And everyone is a sinner.

This is a quirky noir type film with a cover soundtrack and no Buoys. Penelope Angelo (Caylee Cowan) our dancer is both a dimwitted blonde and an intelligent person in one. She is an interesting complex character who knows how to use her looks.

Guide: F-word. Sex. No significant nudity.
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3/10
Nothing worse than trying to come across seriously and instead becoming a laughing stock.
imseeg17 July 2022
This is meant to be a serious thriller, but it is instead seriously LACKING in decent acting performances. WAY way below mediocre acting! And that's really annoying, because when I watch a "thriller" I want to be thrilled, with suspense and action, not bored by B-listed actors.

This has got the cheap look and feel of a television movie. Thriller? Haha, oh man....
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8/10
That motel and diner only deserve one star on Yelp.
Top_Dawg_Critic11 October 2022
But this creative entertaining little gem gets 8/10 stars from me. I've been holding off watching this due to the harsh critics reviews, but decided to finally give it a chance. Heck, it's not even close to perfect, but for a B film, it's one of the better ones out there, and most importantly, it was a fun ride - albeit sometimes weird.

This is notable actor Sean Patrick Flanery's second dabble as writer and director, and rookie mistakes aside, I couldn't stop watching this little gem. It certainly had some plot and pacing issues, and I felt the 112 min runtime was stretched out too much. Some much needed edits and cuts to make this around a 90 min runtime could've gone a long way.

However his filmmaking tone and style did not disappoint. It did well in mixing various genres, and the cinematography, sets and landscaped were well utilized. The soundtrack and score were excellent, especially for a B film. I did feel his cast needed better direction, as some of the performances either lacked conviction, or were overdone every now and then. It also needed a little fine tuning in some of the dialogue - especially Caylee Cowan's Marilyn Monroe voice and demeanor, that became a little too annoying pretty fast.

Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it more than I had expected. I like that Flanery left the ending open to a sequel, I'll certainly be watching out for one.
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7/10
Cheers Flanary!
bigjoshlucas22 December 2022
This is a great "road movie" centered on two people finding themselves. Caylee Cowan exhibits the theme of the movie in an intelligent and seductive way. Hopefully, there will be a sequel. The soundtrack enhances each scene with perfectly selected songs.

The chemistry between the protagonists is brilliant and powerful. Uncontrolled emotions and a gravitational pull between the two while they both search for their own individual core is beautiful. They are both looking for a respite from the unhealthy, dark, and unfulfilling existence they are living in. They are counting on each other to commit to an honest and passionate love that provides support on this journey of self discovery.
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1/10
Utter schlock since I cannot use more profane adjectives on here.
magicmojoman7 September 2022
Too many plots with very little to no explanations or resolution. Thought it would be another "Natural Born Killers" but I was way wrong. Frank is pretty weak allowing a woman to overpower him especially when he had weapons in his possession. I will predict this will be beyond a flop. I would rather watch paint dry. Must I go on to fulfill the six hundred characters required to write this review to this horrific flick. I will more than likely delete this account than waste my time giving critiques to future awful movies. The film industry is going down as fast as the music business if they keep on churning out low standard movies like this one....
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4/10
True Romance knock off
kehoebk-9836724 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
For anyone who thinks this was creative you obviously haven't seen True Romance. Much better movie with better actors. The female character is almost identical all the way down to her atttire and voice. Frank rescues her from a strip club. In True Romance Christian Slater rescues a call girl from a pimp. They start traveling across the country, same thing. Lots of gore at the end. Same thing. Guy gets girl in the end and live happily ever after. If True Romance wasn't already made I'd bump it up a star but to say this was creative is misleading. They did leave it open for a sequel so maybe that will be better.
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5/10
penelope pitstop
fender-321918 March 2023
The only thing that saved the movie was eyeballing penelope and that dodge charger, could it be a cult classic ermm nah,i wont spoil it, the guy whatever his name was, penelope falls for, he cannot act, penelope erm does not matter if she can act, she's vava voom in a weird way, not stunning but an alluring kind of attractive, the car was the real star though, chargers in real life are not that great really, not for handling anyway, look cool though, but you better have a gas tanker behind you, it's one watch film, i hope the actress gets more roles i rather like her, and wish her the best, running out of stuff to say..
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4/10
No idea what I just watched
alatlantic31 December 2023
I'm having a hard time rating this movie, because it's a bit of an enigma. On one hand, objectively, it's not a great movie. It's weird, and much of the acting and story is a bit amateurish.

That out of the way, it's utterly mesmerizing in a way few movies are. It absolutely catches and holds your attention, mainly by how uncanny the leads talk and act. It's overbearing, but weird enough to keep you staring.

There's a story somewhere in there, but it's kinda all over the place and probably not main point. Though I'm not sure what the main point even is.

At the end I just felt kinda shocked, like what did I even just watch. I have no idea how to rate that, so landed on 4.
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8/10
An intense and grossly under rated film. Ignore the bad reviews
Ed-Shullivan28 February 2024
I really was not expecting much from Frank and Penelope as a serious horror/thriller genre film. Although the film starts off rather mundane, the film gradually builds up steam to what I consider both an effective thriller and with a surprise ending. No spoilers here.

The two main characters Frank (Billy Budinich), and Penelope (Caylee Cowan) are mostly unknown actors but I believe both have garnered significant support from their growing fan base which includes myself now.

The plot has been done hundreds of times before with a dysfunctional group of characters controlling a small town where they go undetected with their dastardly crimes. Coming into this tiny dirt road town in their souped up. American made Dodge Charger are Frank and Penelope who are on the run in a similar fashion as the well known rebels from the.1991 movie thriller Thelma and Louise.

As hard as actor Billy Budinich deserves to be recognized for his character portrayal of a tough guy boyfriend, most of the attention will go to the female lead character Penelope played to perfection by actress Caylee Cowan. Her voice, her swivel hips and pouty lips, but mostly her sex appeal and her sexy baby voice will leave most fans wanting to see and hear more from Penelope.

It becomes a battle of wits and desire to stay alive for Frank and Penelope to get out of this freak town and I found myself rooting for both of them to succeed.

No spoilers here, suffice to say I really enjoyed this horror/thriller film and I give it a most deserving 8 out of 10 IMDb rating.

I look forward to seeing more films from both Billy Budinich and Caylee Cowan.
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9/10
I loved the movie
punityadava15 July 2022
I just saw the movie. There was not at all any part of the movie that was slow or boring. Caylee was looking beautiful as always and wonderful acting by Frank.
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9/10
It was weird sometimes a little off kilter but in the end ENTERTAINING and that's what it's all about!!
joiningjt21 August 2022
The film goes in as few directions before it seems to find its way then we get a decent tension filled story line with an excellent ending and a set up for an excellent sequel!! I read a lot of people say the 2 main actors were terrible we disagree their characters are suppose to be a little naive and yet they know they have something special which makes them come off as bad actors. It may have not started out to be a Romantic let's say true romance type film but it ends up that way it has some humor it has a hint of horror it was in our opinion excellent and unique. Also I'm TIRED of hearing how great Tarantino and Scorsese are ....both are EXTREMELY OVERRATED Tarantino would have added anal rape and vulgarity and Scorsese would have added a hour and a half of boring dialogue with 75 year old actors he's been using for 40 fricking years or DICAPRIO!! I'll be SOOOOOO glad when BOTH retire!!! Anyway watch it and stay till the end hopefully well get a sequel I'd like to see where we it goes next!!
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10/10
Phenomenal
celinepowell-1183516 July 2022
Absolutely phenomenal. Loved it from start to the end. Sean Patrick Flanery's Writing and directing skills are out of this world. Casting choice was spot on 👌👌 couldn't imagine anyone else in those roles. Caylee Cowan and Billy Budinich as Frank and Penelope are perfect, their chemistry is evident. It's fast paced entertaining keeping you in the edge of your seat . True love can withstand anything. As well as writing and directing Sean also stars as the Club Manager, his role is small but unforgettable. No-one plays a sexy pissed off bad boy like Sean 👌 .Johnathon Schaech as Chisos is fantastic a cult leader who makes you think . Truly a must see Movie.
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10/10
Rollercoaster ride of thrills and romance
gosia-735089 June 2022
Sean Patrick Flanery has created a love story from hell that draws you in step by step. Well casted film that makes you sympathic to some and loathe others. If you love lust for life and twists and turns that will keep you involved til the end so go see Frank & Penelope. Bravo all..job well done.
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10/10
A genre-bending love story, fun to watch
Steffi68105 July 2022
FRANK & PENELOPE is everything I love about movies.

There's romance, action, thriller, suspense, horror, mystery and above all: a lot of fun to watch.

At its core it's a beautiful love story. Love against all odds.

"A horrific allegorical love story." This is how director Sean Patrick Flanery describes his movie himself.

If you love Tarantino movies or movies like Wild at Heart, True Romance, From Dusk till Dawn, Bonnie & Clyde, Thelma and Louise, then you will enjoy Frank and Penelope too.

The music is very inspiring. Not only the beautiful songs, kudos to Sean Patrick Flanery. But also the composers Rhyan D'Errico (Donna D'Errico's son!) & Jared Forman created a phenomenal captivating score.

The whole cast is fantastic, two leads with a great chemistry: Caylee Cowan and Billy Budinich.

It's Billy's very first movie which is unbelievable. Like he's in the business for years.

Caylee is the perfect embodiment of Penelope. Penelope is a stripper who uses her sexuality to get what she wants because she has learned nothing else. But she's strong and smart and finally able to find true love.

Donna D'Errico is so amazing as Mabel. If you know her from Baywatch you'll hardly recognize her.

Johnathon Schaech has that terrifying charisma, perfect for his role as villain. Kevin Dillon's role is small but he's so cool.

It was Sean Patrick Flanery's feature film directorial debut. He also wrote the script after the original story by John Thaddeus.

I hope to see more movies from Sean in the future.

I was coming out of the cinema with a huge smile. A movie even more fun to rewatch for all the details.

And I just love the end credits with these personal notes from Sean.
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10/10
Cayleeee
donumdei16 March 2024
Cayleee is the movie. She is so god it's insane. I don't know what it is about her but she is one of the sexiest women in the world. Her act is incredible in this movie.

Movie is more of a dark, crazy romantic movie with "Hills have eyes" minus the deformed and very weird people. It's just gives that dry desert weirdo town that you should never stop to even fill up gas. I really enjoyed the movie. Good fun but without Caylee movie wouldn't been on my list. I wish Johnny Drama Chase had more role. He is always a boost. Just give it a shot, it's a dope movie.

I'm getting annoyed with IMBD 600 characters.
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8/10
Beauty and the Beast in West Texas
Wuchakk25 April 2023
A heartbroken man in Austin (Billy Budinich) meets a winsome exotic dancer (Caylee Cowan) and they head toward West Texas, but unfortunately end up in the wrong town, ran by a charismatic, but twisted sage (Johnathon Schaech). Kevin Dillon is on hand as the Sheriff.

"Frank and Penelope" (2022) is a quirky romantic road movie within the context of a crime drama/thriller written & directed by Sean Patrick Flanery, who's perhaps best known as the star of "Powder" (1995). His style is reminiscent of Tarantino and a maybe Rob Zombie, but with some artsy flair akin to, say, Darren Aronofsky.

Flicks like "Psycho III" (1986), "True Romance" (1993), "Chasers" (1994), "Love and a .45" (1994), "Kalifornia" (1993) and a little "The Hot Spot" (1990) come to mind, along with a bit o' "Ravenous" (1999). Schaech as Chisos is even reminiscent of Neal McDonough in "Ravenous." As far as I'm concerned, "Frank and Penelope" is the best of all of 'em (it's at least on par with the top ones).

To be expected with such a list, there's an amount of sleaze, violence, ugliness and twistedness that you'll have to roll with, but there are also glimpses of beauty and light. For instance, lust and love are contrasted.

Speaking of beauty, Caylee is a revelation in the tradition of Marilyn Monroe. And the desolate West Texas locations are scenic while the bright palette is a highlight. I'm so glad that fad of a muted colors from a dozen years ago is (hopefully) over. I should add that lovely Sydney Scotia is also featured in the fairly prominent role of Molly.

The film runs 1 hour, 52 minutes, and was shot in Austin and Terlingua, Texas, the latter of which is in the Big Bend area.

GRADE: A-
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10/10
Absolutely obsessed!
sederstromkrystal8 June 2022
This movie is amazing!!! Will give you all the feels and i can relate to the movie as well! Sean did amazing and put all his hard work into this film! It had me on the edge of my seat!!
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