Frank (Michael Fassbender), the visionary lead singer in an unsung alt-rock band, spends his entire life hiding beneath piñata headgear that brings to mind a Jack-in-the-Box drive-thru. His parents later confess their adult son suffers from mental illness. Really? Forrest Gump for hipsters, this huggable, Sundance-sanctioned babble joins the ever-stretching dishonor roll of well-intentioned multiplex rot that shamelessly exploits and trivializes intellectually challenged minds. For a film about determined musicians, Stephen Rennicks’s abrasive score boasts more Mickey Mousing than a Silly Symphony. The band eventually makes its debut at SXSW, and with it comes the film’s only honest discernment: there is no better place for self-indulgent mediocrity to flex its commercial muscle than at a trendy film festival. Even the customarily venturous Maggie Gyllenhaal stumbles around in an empty-headed daze. Frankly speaking, director Lenny Abrahamson’s pretentious lampoon of social media is destined to top this year’s 10 Worst list. (2014) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.