Review of Flawless (2007) by Shawn Z — 20 Jan 2009

Robrt De Niro stars as a retired homophobic New York police officer who suffers a stroke that leaves him partially paralyzed and with a severe speech impairment. His doctor recommends singing lessons to help him improve the clarity of his speech. He truns for help to his neighbor (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a flamboyant pre-operative transsexual who is also a drag performer. They soon discover that although they are each deeply prejudiced against one another, they also have a great deal in common.

De Niro's performance is a technical challenge, since through most of the movie he dosen't talk clearly or walk very well. Philip Seymour Hoffman, who I found spectacular gives a perfomance here has a nice bittersweet rhythm with De Niro thats just alittle too colorful with it's settings and characters to be real, but it works as a story of a drag queen who able to see through the tough guy act of Ne Diro and indenites with his suffering.

The flaw with Flawless is that it's a little over the top but I liked this film. Flawless was directed by Joel Schumacher who also wrote the screenplay. He connects the stories very well together. I also like that to me De Niro chose this role because he wanted to try talking like that.