Last year, Michael Fassbender was nominated for his first Oscar for 12 Years a Slave. It was only natural he would follow that performance up with a comic book movie and Frank, where he plays a variation of Jack from the Jack in the Box commercials.

Fassbender is unrecognizable throughout most of Frank, but not thanks to a stellar performance or makeup. Rather, he wears a giant fake head the entire time, because that’s what the title character does: Frank, the eccentric leader of an eccentric, experimental band that obtains YouTube fame thanks to that dude from About Time (Domhnall Gleeson).

Frank is a drama-comedy that is hard to explain other than to say it’s surprisingly entertaining, despite not being particularly dramatic nor comedic. The movie is weird only in that its title character is weird, but Gleeson’s straight-man narrative and observations of Frank and his band help accentuate the weirdness, adding a chuckle-inducing charm that permeates throughout the project.

In the end, Frank delivers a satisfying silly and simultaneously sad third act that takes everything that the movie is about--music, eccentricity and creative genius--and swirls them together.

Frank isn’t perfect, nor is it the most mindblowing film you’ll watch by a long stretch, but it’s slightly zany story matched by a terrific script makes it a worthwhile venture, and at least slightly better than most Jack in the Box commercials.

Review by Erik Samdahl. Erik is a marketing and technology executive by day, avid movie lover by night. He is a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society.