Frank (Frank Langella) is an old man who once had been, at the height of his career, a legendary cat burglar. Time has taken its toll, however, and now he's having a hard time taking care of himself. His son, Hunter (James Marsden) checks in on him once a week, while his daughter, Madison (Liv Tyler) has a job that has her traveling around the world, so she calls him frequently, but never visits. Frank lacks a regimented schedule and manages to let his house get disgustingly dirty and lets the food in his fridge spoil. In desperation and trying to prevent placing Frank in a nursing home, Hunter gets him a robotic assistant, programmed to improve Frank's physical and mental health.
Frank is very resistant of the robot (Peter Sarsgaard), at first, but as the days go by, he finds it nice to have someone to talk with and to help him with menial or embarrassing chores (such as enemas). He grows even more fond of the robot when he realizes that the robot has no concern for legalities, as long as the actions are working towards improving Frank's health. In the robot, Frank finds not only someone to talk to, but a protege; someone to teach the tricks of his trade... and someone with strength and dexterity far beyond that of a person, regardless of age.
Frank may not have had much going on at home, but he does make frequent trips to the library, where he has become their last actual customer; with technology providing the ability to get access to books on a mobile device anywhere you are, there simply wasn't a calling for classic libraries anymore. A pretentious young couple purchases the library and plans to turn it into a modern place that provides "the library experience," claiming that people still want the community aspects of libraries. The books, however, were to be sent away as there was no use for actual books in this library.
This radical modern change annoyed Frank as much as the pretentious young people did, but Frank was much more interested in Jennifer (Susan Sarandon), the librarian. He was attracted to her and was more interested in getting her phone number than getting more books. Frank decides to plan some heists, stripping some of the dripping jewels from the overladen yuppie socialites that were destroying his library. The robot assists, hesitantly. On one hand, the act of mentally planning the heists is obviously sharpening Frank's mental skills and is definitely improving his mood, but on the other hand, he can't allow the heist to take place if it would place Frank in any danger. Enjoying the feeling of pulling heists again, Frank decides to steal one of the priceless antique books from the library to present as a gift to Jennifer. However, the strain is taxing, and Frank slips up under pressure, ultimately leading to an ill-fated getaway attempt. The resolution teaches Frank (and perhaps the audience), something about friendship and technology.
I saw it on DVD, and while there are some pretty scenes of walking through the woods, this is not one of those movies with heavy color processing or stylizing, so DVD seemed to suit it just fine. I really liked Robot & Frank, and highly recommend it (and have already recommended it to several of my close personal friends).
