The Movie House is starting a mini Philip Seymour Hoffman film festival. For the first half I will look at early roles before he won the Oscar for Best Actor in 2005 and then afterwards I will look at his post Oscar films.
Flawless from 1999 was one of his first big roles. The film starred Hoffman and Robert DeNiro as to very different men brought together by unique circumstances. DeNiro is an Walter, a former NYPD officer, he has no use for the drag queens and other "freaks" that inhabit his NYC resident hotel. Philip Seymour Hoffman is Rusty, a drag queen and Walter's upstairs neighbor.
After Walter has a debilitating stroke he begins to take singing lessons from Rusty in order to regain his ability to talk. These two very different men are brought together and come to understand each other a little better.
Aside from the performance by Hoffman, there is absolutely no reason to see this film. It is overblown melodrama directed with the usual lack of editing by Joel Schumacher. The story is all over the place and filled withe most cliched characters and tired dialogue imaginable. The film does not know if it's a comedy, drama or suspense thriller. DeNiro plays the same guy he played in Awakenings only 10 years later. It's always good to see him act, but I never once stopped thinking I was watching DeNiro act. Hoffman on the other hand, disappears into his role and does his best with the script he has to work with.
The film is a mish-mash of message and schmaltz that goes no where.
At The Movie House rating ** stars
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