Flawless

Rating:
Summary: They should have shelved this one......
Review: I think this is one of the worst films I have ever had the misfortune to see...One would think that a film with this amount of potential (in the form of the two leading actors Robert DeNiro and Phillip Seymore Hoffman) that it could eek out an OK film but it is not the case.

I could go on thinking of different ways in which to express my general displeasure regaring this film, but it might be more productive to give specifics

1. Hoffman is the WORST drag queen I have ever seen on film. It was as if he was afraid to seem too good at it, thus allowing the public to label him as a closet queen. He is a much better actor than that (one need only see his work in The Talented Mr. Ripley and Boogie Nights to know that).

2. DeNiro as a man who has had a stroke...we don't care that he had a stroke, that he grows a person. One never learns to care about him, thus one does not care about the film. If it was the case that one is to be a resistant viewer, our lack of carring would be the point.

3. The subplot of the drug money--only serves to detract from the main story...as the waifish little drug-addicted girl dies in the beginning, we also don't care that she is dead either. We also don't really feel the depth of the friendship that she is to have had with Hoffman's character. So, is he only concerned with the drug money that will let him become a woman or does he actually give a darn that she was killed?

If you purchase this film, it is at your own risk.....

Rating:
Summary: Philip Seymour Hoffman is a genius
Review: I will keep this simple. See this movie because you must see every movie that Philip Seymour Hoffman has appeared in. I first experienced him in "Happiness," and I don't remember when I have been so deeply disgusted by a character. It was a difficult movie to watch and it was very refreshing to see that Philip could play a light and funny character like the drag queen in Flawless. The chemistry between Philip and Robert DeNiro is touching and surprising. See it.

Rating:
Summary: Good idea gone wrong
Review: If this movie had stayed focused on a small, human story of how two very different people in need reach out to each other, it would've been gorgeous. But in its execution, things go so wrong so quickly that I have to believe the script was only one-eighth written when filming started.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is very talented and watchable (interestingly reminding me so much of a woman I know), but that's about the only good thing I can say. Robert DeNiro walks through his role, but that doesn't matter much, since his Walt Koontz is just a stereotype anyway. Like many of the other characters, Koontz is so much more a function of the uninventive plot than any real study of attitude or behavior. On the other hand, Rusty's three friends were actually stereotypes who didn't have any plot function. They were, it seems, the road company from "To Wong Foo" wandering onto the wrong set.

This to me was the movie's downfall. I could've even gone along with the tacked-on subplots if these characters had been more genuine and complex. But as it was, Rusty was the all-knowing earth mother (by virtue of being gay, I guess), Koontz was the bigoted, misogynist white cop (by virtue of being white and male), all the minorities were fringe people with criminal tendencies (prostitutes, drug dealers, and thugs), and all the gays (at cross-purpose, it would appear, with the movie's message) were childish and self-absorbed. I was shocked, e.g., when Rusty's friends reacted to a near-deadly ordeal by pushing to get their own names and faces on the news report, because one of them just won a gay beauty contest. You can't tell me that's not outrageous stereotyping.

Already irritated by this, I had little patience for the more minor messes in continuity, purpose, and tone, which I'm going to rant about now. Why does Tia care about Koontz? Why are we supposed to care about him? What is the point of Rory Cochrane's character? Damn it, does Rusty live above Koontz or below him? In the final scenes, are we supposed to be anxious for Rusty's safety or amused that he looks like a Monty Python housewife? Why did people yell at, and thereby warn, their attackers before they shot back? The climax would've been resolved much quicker if some basic human instincts had been brought into play. And what was that interminable outtake-thing at the end, followed by the chirpy credits? It felt like the wrap-up to a 70's comedy show.

All in all, this was a great central idea that very quickly shot off the tracks. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robert DeNiro should try it again in another movie.

Rating:
Summary: Really liked this movie
Review: If you can weed through the dumb peripherals and focus on DeNiro and Hoffman doing great work, then you'll like this movie. I saw it last night on TV and loved it. When Hoffman's character cried to DeNiro that he was lonely and ugly, it really hit home and started the flood. Really liked the character Hoffman developed. Would like to see that character in "her" own film.

Rating:
Summary: Not a drag
Review: Joel Schumacher's formulaic feel-good comedy-drama is much more affecting and entertaining than it has any right to be. Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Magnolia," "State and Main") gives an inspired performance as Rusty, a chunky drag queen who helps a homophobic ex-security guard (Robert De Niro) recover from a debilitating stroke. The convention of rendering a drag queen as an outspoken Earth Mother is not exactly fresh. But Hoffman infuses Rusty with enough vitality - and, when necessary, enough ferocity - to turn the overexposed cliché back into a flesh-and-blood character. Indeed, he even manages to overshadow De Niro -- no mean feat!

Rating:
Summary: Flawed and fabulous.
Review: No, this isn't a perfect movie. No, it won't change any small minds. Yes, it is a fantastic ode to friendship and heroism of many kinds. Though this movie has none of the heavy-handedness of message movies, it has two very clear messages: friendship comes through seeing similarities not differences and sometimes it takes heroism just to live your daily life.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman is a revelation in this movie. Robert De Niro is impeccable. Even Barry Miller (remember him from Fame?) does a great job in what should be a throwaway role as the devious hotel clerk.

But there is more going on here than amazing performances. Rusty, Hoffman's character, frequently calls on great divas of film "Okay, baby, Michelle Pfeiffer going after a Dangerous Mind," for courage. It was supremely fitting that he mentioned Grace Kelly in Rear Window when he has to climb the balcony fire escape. Not only is Rusty, like Lisa, trying to prove herself to her man, Schumacher is drawing a great parallel between the two films, both essays on the idea that the loneliest place is in a crowd. Both films take place in New York apartment complexes where people spy on each other through windows and live in constant dis/connection with their neighbors' lives. Both films examine the most horrible fate - being alone. And though Flawless lacks the tension and artistic beauty of Rear Window, its resolution is even more fulfilling. It may be trite, but it is true - Stick Together.

Watch this movie for the acting, the incredibly sharp dialog, the longing behind these lonely characters' eyes, and the final triumph of these two unlikely companions.

Oh yes, and if you are gay (or just happen to have a gay person's wit), get out your pen and paper. Those one-liners are unbelievable.

Rating:
Summary: Silly, Campy, and Bad BAD BAD
Review: One thing is for certain...one day in the distant future, whenthis film is revived in some obscure gay theater, Robert DeNiro WILLroll over in his grave. This film may possibly qualify as one of the pantheon of "so bad it's actually funny" movies, but I'm not entirely certain about that. Give it another five years on video to really let the bad performances, bad writing, bad direction, and bad concepts start to ferment. This film was clearly written by a Screaming (untalented) queen, if not directed by one. How DeNiro got roped into this is a mystery only some Far Eastern Oracle could ever hope to answer. I think he did it because he lost a poker bet with somebody. As it is, he should be hung with a feather boa for this celluloid transgression. I dare not guess at Phillip Seymour-T's reason. This was not drama, because it was too improbable and campy. This was not satire, because how do you satirize drag queens? They are already larger than life. This was definitely comedy, at the very end. But I don't think the film started out that way, and that's a very scary thought, indeed. Rent or buy this only if you, yourself, are a drag queen(in which case you'll love it) or if you hate Robert DeNiro and really wish to see him in the throes of a totally embarrassing career move (in which case you'll REALLY love it).

Rating:
Summary: Over the top and bizzar
Review: The movie was enjoyable and entertaining. I felt that most stereotypes got used a great deal and that the story was a bit strange. De Niro did an excellant job of being an old dog that hates new tricks and hates Gays. His role was believable and his vocal trainer ( Drag Queen ) was totally over the top but since I have known a few that are just as over the top as him, I was able to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the film. The film quality was good and it had some good comic moments. I realize that the message was meant to be deep however I felt the movie was lacking soul. I never got drawn in to the point I forgot it was a movie, not even for a few minutes. It's an enjoyable movie for an evening sitting in front of the tube but not one you would strongly suggest friends rent or see particularly. I very much enjoy De Niro and wish I could be more possitive and up beat about my review however I can not with all honesty.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Grace Stole The Show
Review: The only character that made this movie watchable was the Black drag queen "Amazing Grace." Talk about realism! She kept it real all through the film. Nashom Benjamin/Mona Foote is the greatest drag queen entertainer of all time! He/She dominated the entire movie. Without "Amazing Grace" the movie would have rated 1/2 star. With him/her, the movie rates 1.5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Like Rear Window, except Grace Kelly is a drag queen!
Review: The tone of this film is pretty difficult to nail down. Some scenes are played to be genuinely touching, others seem purposefully maudlin, and still others are Jarmusch-like in their comedic detachment from the rest of the movie.

From scene to scene, you never really know where the movie is trying to lead you from an emotional point of view, but you can usually see where it's going plotwise: DeNiro's character (very) gradually learning to accept Hoffman's, while a sleazy crimeboss tries to recover his money.

This movie is like two movies in one, and some viewers will like one part of it, and others will prefer the other. The problem is that the intertwining of these two "separate" movies does not necessarily result in a single good movie.

But maybe Joel Schumacher, the director, was being more subtle than I am giving him credit for: maybe by mixing the two genres of "heart-wrenching melodrama" with "where's the money", he was suggesting a parallel between his plot and his two main characters, one a gun-toting former security guard, the other a drag queen. Again, maybe that's reading too much into it, but it seems possible.

A lot of people seem not very impressed with DeNiro in this film. His performance is, I guess, an average one, and maybe the fact that you don't really expect "just average" from him is what makes it seem a little worse than it is. He's certainly not difficult to watch, and I'm sure he got the mannerisms of stroke victims just right, but there isn't a lot of range or depth in his performance. (Perhaps that's impossible to avoid? It's hard to say.)

Phillip Seymour Hoffman, however, is amazing. You can really appreciate his performance in this film if you've seen him in something else: Magnolia, Happiness, or Boogie Nights, for example. He's great in all of those, but his role in this film is in such stark contrast to those other films that you can't help but be amazed by his range. Compare the scenes in which he first takes on the thugs to the one where he discusses a recently-deceased relative. He nails both of them, and keeps his character consistent. You can't ask for more than that.

Even though the basic plot is outlandish, you can suspend your disbelief through most of it, until the end, when it turns into Rear Window versus a cheap slasher film. You'll see what I mean if you get that far.

One other performance I thought was excellent that nobody else has mentioned, was that of Daphne Rubin-Vega, a Tony Award-nominated actress who is relatively new to movies. Her role is small, but she owns it. Her shift from disenchantment to enchantment is really a pleasure to watch. You see her whole story in her face before she even says a word.

Since this is a review of the DVD, I'll just say that the picture quality is more than acceptable, and some of the darker scenes look great. There are virtually no extras (just the trailer, I think).

So the bottom line: Is the film worth seeing? Sure, especially if you're a PS Hoffman fan. But, be warned, you need to go with the flow when it comes to the emotional tone of the film.