Frankie Go Boom is one of those crazy comedy film with intertwined characters that seems like a good idea on paper. There’s Charlie Hunnam (TV’s Sons Of Anarchy) as Frankie, a guy hiding out from society in a camper in Death Valley. His parents (played by Nora Dunn and Sam Anderson) get him to come back to civilization to attend his brother (Chris O’Dowd) Bruce’s “graduation” from rehab. He then meets up with Lassie (Lizzy Caplan) and a series of events kicks off that involves Bruce surreptitiously filming Lassie and Frankie. Apparenlty Bruce has a problem with responsibility and boundaries, which is part why Frankie has been hiding out from society. Other characters include Jack, Bruce’s roommate in rehab (Chris Noth), Bruce’s friend Claudia (Whitney Cummings), the ex-porn actress (Kate Luyben), and Phyllis (Ron Perlman).
It takes about a half an hour to really get going. Even then it feels like it’s just plodding along. Writer/director Jordan Roberts has some great ideas, but would have benefited from some collaboration. There’s an over-reliance on sex jokes and the pacing is slow.
There’s definitely a reason this film wasn’t released theatrically. On Blu-ray there are some deleted/alternate scenes and some featurettes. None of that helps the overall dullness of the main feature.