This film begins with a woman named "Frankie" (Michelle Pfeiffer) arriving on a bus to Altoona, Pennsylvania to be present as a godmother for her young niece. At that exact moment a man named "Johnny" (Al Pacino) is being released from prison there as well. Frankie then heads back to New York City on a bus to resume her job as a waitress in a small restaurant where--as luck would have it--Johnny ventures inside and applies for a job as a cook. Although Johnny becomes quite smitten with Frankie, she is hesitant to have anything to do with him even though she is just as lonely as he is. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film was rather slow at times but there was sufficient romance and a bit of humor here and there to keep things interesting. I especially liked the performance of Nathan Lane (as Frankie's good friend "Tim") who was responsible for almost all of the comedy. In any case, I found this to be an enjoyable movie for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Having a film with Michelle Pfeiffer, Al Pacino and one of my all time favorites - Kate Nelligan, all directed by Garry Marshall (of the Pretty Woman fame) would seem like a no-brainer. I mean, how could things go wrong right? But, boy, did they ever go wrong, and I mean, wrong with a capital W, R, O, N and G! I have gone through seven circles of hell watching this horrible excuse for a film. The only thing that kept me going was not even Pfeiffer or Pacino, but gorgeous and incredibly talented Nelligan. Ever time the film managed to disappoint me, which happened every other minute, I was hoping for another scene with Kate Nelligan. What an actress... simply marvelous. But, everything else, absolutely sucked. The story is non-existent, but one should not even attempt to hint at it because it would automatically result in spoilers - that's how little of a story there is. This sorry excuse for a film starts with Al Pacino trying to get Michelle Pfeiffer interested in him. She has some strange form of a Borderline personality disorder, which may have been interesting to the writer, but it was so poorly portrayed in the film that it did not work at all (because it was not believable and it was presented inaccurately). He, on the other hand, suffers from inexhaustible and unrealistic amount of optimism. I mean, talk about white knight syndrome! He is trying to save her from whatever her inner demons may be, and she is constantly rejecting him. And that goes on and on, and on, and on, and on, and on for some 1 hour and 25 minutes of this film. The attraction-rejection starts around the 10-15 min mark and goes on until the very end. Each rejection is like a 10-15 minute game, so imagine how many times you get to see the same scene played out all over again. Just horrendous. And to think that ANYONE would believe that that type of torture would work as a film? This film has managed to prove to me that Hollywood filmmaking is purely based on chance. I can guarantee that no one who made a decision that this film should be made had used their brains; no, they must have had a pile of screenplays, and they threw a dart and it landed on this steaming pile of dung. And that's why it was made. There is no other option, believe me. I managed to stay until the bitter end, at first hoping for some satisfactory resolution, but later just to test my patience. The ending failed too, but as it was getting closer to it, I figured there will be nothing better in the end than before it. All in all, watch it only to see HOW NOT TO CREATE A STORY. It does not matter that it is supposedly a love story. It could have been any type of a story - it should simply never "evolve" this way, and the characters should never be written the way they were. Dialogues were atrocious. Characters incredibly unbelievable, with exception of Kate Nelligan's (who managed to save it somehow). Story was still born from the start and never moved anywhere. Various random scenes were thrown in for good measure or to try and break up the monotony. The mood is somber and it never changes. The characters have no arc, and nothing goes anywhere. This is one boring, depressing, incredibly dumb, immature, psychotic story put on screen by accident. No one in their right mind would want to make this film I guarantee you. What a shame, because with that cast and money, one would expect at least a mediocre result, but that was not the case here. Not even close to mediocre. Not even bad. Hardly terrible. More like - run away and run fast, and never look back. Just god awful in every way imaginable.

You have to admit when watching this film , Johnny steals everyone's heart's. Who wouldn't like someone like Johnny in their lives? I mean the guy is just really the one to be with. Boy I'm so mind blown of Al Pacino's character, he is just literally romantic. As Bruno Mars has said in his song "Uptown Funk", Michele Pfeiffer definitely is pure gold and with this role, she killed it. She really knows how to act as a emotionally disturbed woman who has been through a lot. I mean, I honestly thought that she was a wimp for keep on saying no to him but, as the story goes, you really go deep on the reasons why she is finding life hard. That's what I like about this movie, it opens up reality such as domestic abuse. It really stands out on the issues we are facing in real life unfortunately. Thankfully Frankie met the wonderful Johnny and her next door neighbour left her abusive partner for his misery. I love this movie, it's so powerful and emotional that I think it should've been deserved an Oscar, not a nominated Golden Globe...

Frankie and Johnny is a simple love story - incorrigible romantic Johnny, working as a short order cook in a Greek restaurant following his release from prison, sets his sights on waitress Frankie despite the fact that she is clearly bruised by the experiences of her life. Will his positiveness overcome her negativity? In an effort to be objective, I have to say that I don't find the character of Johnny easy to believe in - you could specify the qualities you want in the bloke to rescue your damaged psyche from the walls you are building for self-protection, and Johnny has all those qualities plus a handful more for good measure. But Al Pacino invests him with such magnetic presence that it is easy to overlook this.Michelle Pfeiffer's Frankie, on the other hand, is all too believable, both in the construction of the character - wounded, hurting, and scared of having those wounds reopened - and in its performance. Pfeiffer is almost too painful to watch.The gentle humour which runs through Frankie And Johnny makes the painful emotional heart easier to bear, but this would ultimately be a bleak piece were it not for the hopeful note upon which it ends.The supporting cast are solid, and the screenplay has been opened up nicely from the source stage play.