The story of Uncle Frank is as old as time. Family vs found family works on a big screen if you have a solid script and the integrity in Alan Ball’s work is clear from the outset. Paul Bettany’s Frank and Peter Macdissi’s Wally are deeply engaging and believable as a gay couple in 1973, whose semi-open New York lives are disrupted by Sophia Lillis’s Beth (Frank’s 18 year old niece from the same town in the deep south), who seeks her uncle out after starting at the same university he teaches in. It could be very cliché but her discovery of the real Frank has charm and the film is quickly shaped by Peter Macdissi’s nuanced and intensely likeable performance. All three head southwards when Peter’s Dad dies, which forces him to confront his past and come to terms with his present. The sensitivity needed in performances, script and direction is delivered confidently. This film is warm, smart and very hard to fault and the boys playing off Lillis’ character, as eager to find an individual identity and future as them, together offer a conclusion of hope that’s delightfully free of schmaltz. From Frank’s exchange with student Bruce in the first act to Beth reminding her elders what they already know about found family, the script never loses focus and is never short of cute, smart moments. Alan Ball’s direction is about as faultless (apart perhaps occasionally from pacing issues) as his script, and the balance of love and trauma is delivered with disarming humanity by the quite stunning pairing of Bettany and Macdissi.