Extra Cinema: Frank (15)

Undated Film Still Handout from Frank. Pictured: Maggie Gyllenhaal as Clara, Michael Fassbender as Frank and Domhall Gleeson as Jon. See PA Feature FILM Film Reviews. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Curzon Film World. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature FILM Film Reviews.

Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Michael Fassbender, Maggie Gyllenhaal

In the mid 1980s, musician Chris Sievey gave birth to Frank Sidebottom, a sharp-suited comic persona with a large papier-mache head.

This cartoonish alter-ego became ensconced in the Madchester music scene.

Later, Sidebottom made a series of comebacks and remained a cult favourite on the music and comedy scenes until Sievey’s death in June 2010.

Journalist Jon Ronson’s memories of the man and the myth provide an unlikely spark of inspiration for Frank, a musical comedy that is, to be frank, too self-consciously bonkers for its own good.

Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender spends almost the entire film encased within a giant fibreglass noggin.

The narrator though is Jon (Domhnall Gleeson), who composes lyrics in his bedroom. During a walk along the beachfront, he encounters a band called the Soronprfbs, whose keyboardist has just suffered a mental breakdown.

Gyllenhaal sinks her pearly whites into her role with gusto but Gleeson’s delusions of musical grandeur wear thin.

Rating: 5/10