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Flawless
MGM
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for pervasive language and strong violence
Starring
Robert De Niro,
Phillip Seymour Hoffman,
Barry Miller,
Chris Bauer,
Skipp Sudduth,
Wilson Jermaine Heredia ,
Nashom Benjamin,
and
Scott Allen Cooper
After suffering a stroke, an ultraconservative security guard (DeNiro) is assigned to a rehabilitative program that includes singing lessons. As a twist of fate, his teacher is his next-door neighbor, who is also a drag queen (Hoffman).
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Joel Schumacher
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Joel Schumacher
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: April 25, 2000
Video: April 25, 2000
Theatrical: November 24, 1999
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
112 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
90
TNT RoughCut
Joel Schumacher
It's clear that Schumacher has risen from the self-imposed dreck of "Batman & Robin" and has returned to Hollywood to tell a good story.
83
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
It says a lot for Joel Schumacher's Flawless that you can see the picture's high-concept heart a mile away and still be won over by it.
75
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
A smartly crafted throwback to the gritty Manhattan crime melodramas of the '40s .
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
More fable than slice of life, and all these people and props give Robert De Niro and Philip Seymour Hoffman their opening to create two screwy characters from opposite ends of the great personality divide
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Edward Guthmann
Contrived and overly schematic, but De Niro and Hoffman are such good actors that it never slips into pat sentiment.
70
Dallas Observer
Luke Y. Thompson
One of the season's biggest delights.
67
Austin Chronicle
Sarah Hepola
Not content to whisper its truths; it would rather flaunt its valuable lessons and its good intentions, proudly boasting its sentiments like a (rainbow-striped) badge of honor.
66
Mr. Showbiz
Kevin Maynard
Perhaps most depressingly, in pulling out all the stops for an ugly, violent climax, he (Schumacher) cheapens this vividly drawn slice of life, turning it into a tiresomely flawed, garden-variety vigilante thriller.
63
USA Today
Mike Clark
Worth stumbling into on cable not all that far into next year.
60
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
This 'heartwarming' thriller refuses to distinguish realism from stylization, and much of the plot is a twisted mess of repetition and unpersuasive motivation.
60
TV Guide
Ken Fox
This surprisingly grim comedy-drama is about as good as director Joel Schumacher gets.
60
Film.com
Peter Brunette
If you want to see an object lesson in how brilliant acting can transcend high concept, this movie's for you.
60
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Flawless this Joel Schumacher film is not, but it plays so well that scarcely matters.
58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
It finally just rings false as a human drama.
50
LA Weekly
Ernest Hardy
An appallingly crude film, with dialogue lifted off bumper stickers, characters stitched together from shorthand clichés (the brassy black drag queen; the fiery little Latin number) and a plot that's on cruise control from the opening credits.
50
Film.com
Elizabeth Weitzman
A small-scale mess.
50
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
At its best when it simply lets Hoffman and De Niro play off each other .
50
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
A coy seriocomedy distantly related to--but missing the sting of--"Kiss of the Spider Woman."
50
Variety
Emanuel Levy
Schumacher takes a step in the right direction with Flawless, a small-scale, intimate serio-comedy.
50
Film.com
John Hartl
Crass and depressing drama.
50
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
De Niro gives a technically brilliant performance as Walt, struggling with a body that will no longer obey him.
50
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
It's obvious and stereotypical. It's leaden and unconvincing. It's not nearly as outrageous as it thinks it is.
50
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
So awful it just might put an end to Hollywood's hypocritical infatuation with men in drag as symbols of its own supposedly liberated sexual attitudes.
50
Village Voice
Dennis Lim
Flawless never approaches the rancid bluster of "8MM," but it's an equally dishonest piece of manipulative hackwork.
40
Slate
Eliza Truitt
Corny, predictable, and packed with gay stereotypes.
40
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
You need a pair of huge, hairy ones to make a picture this bad and call it Flawless.
38
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
Save your breath, and your money.
38
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
A long, slow pity party full of characters who constantly bemoan their fate while telling other people not to pity themselves.
38
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Hoffman's turn as the drag queen has its endearing and comically catty moments, but Flawless' utter phoniness subsumes all efforts at honest acting.
38
Chicago Tribune
Mark Caro
In making a movie that preaches love for odd ducks, Schumacher has turned Flawless into the oddest duck of all.
33
Portland Oregonian
Diana Abu-Jaber
While this film has got a good head on its shoulders and a nicely made-up face, flawless it's not.
25
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
This noisy, disorganized story is riddled with clichés, stereotypes, and self-indulgence from beginning to end.
25
San Francisco Examiner
Wesley Morris
Flawless is what happens when a filmmaker has no sense of naturalism, no sense of realism and no real natural sense.
 The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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