Movie Review: The Benefactor (2015)

Genre: Drama  

Director: Andrew Renzi  

Starring: Richard Gere, Dakota Fanning, Theo James  

Running Time: 93 minutes  

Synopsis: In Philadelphia, wealthy hospital benefactor Francis "Franny" Watts (Richard Gere) is best friends with couple Bobby and Mia (Dylan Baker and Cheryl Hines), and treats their teenaged daughter Olivia (Dakota Fanning) as his own. Franny is consumed by guilt when he survives a car crash that kills Bobby and Mia. Five years later the pregnant Olivia marries Luke (Theo Wilson), a doctor, and reconnects with Franny. He starts showering the couple with expensive gifts and favours, but Franny is also suffering from physical and emotional scars.

What Works Well: Richard Gere enjoys a larger-than-life role, gregariously dancing on the seam between joyful and overbearing. Writer/director Andrew Renzi tantalizes with mysteries surrounding the origins of Franny's wealth, his ailments and addictions, the true nature of his relationship with Bobby and Mia, and what happened in the aftermath of that fateful car crash. Olivia and Luke's discomfort carries an edge as their life is overwhelmed by Franny's largesse.

What Does Not Work As Well: The narrative is much better at asking questions than answering them, and ultimately this is an unsatisfactory half-movie with a host of non-resolutions. A critical pivot point is Franny's inability to renew a morphine prescription, a highly implausible hurdle for a hospital-owning tycoon. 

Key Quote:

Luke (to Franny): Just because you give and give and give doesn't make you a part of anything.

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