by Ryan Lewellen
Joel Schumacher has always interested me. For years, his films received middling-to-slightly enthusiastic response from critics, and often-instant cult classic status from audiences. He is well known for supposedly ruining the 90s Batman franchise with his two post-Burton installments, though Batman Forever’s virtues remain controversial. Since the turn of the millennium, however, his work as a director has almost entirely been the stuff of trashy legend. The Number 23 and Phone Booth are punch lines as far as the mainstream consciousness is concerned (I can’t speak to either film, having never seen them), and any project since the middle of the last decade has failed to catch anyone’s attention for acclaim, or damnation. Apparently he directed a few episodes of House Of Cards. People seem to like that show. He also directed a movie I believe has been completely forgotten, back in 1999, called Flawless. Like most films in his dubious career, it’s hard to say whether its merits outweigh its… flaws.
Walt (Robert De Niro) is a retired hero cop who lives alone in a shabby New York apartment, spending most of his days playing handball, and practically every night paying for sex at a gentleman’s club. Rusty (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) is a drag queen and a voice coach who lives across from Walt in the same building. Rusty regularly incurs the ire of Walt, the kind of simple straight man who couldn’t possibly understand Rusty’s life. When some mafia thugs attack their neighbors while hunting for stolen cash, Walt comes to save the day, but suffers a stroke. With the right side of his body in paralysis, he contemplates suicide, until a doctor recommends he take singing lessons which could improve his disabled speech. Since he is unable to travel long distances, he reluctantly comes to Rusty for help, and the two slowly begin bonding.
If you think you know where this is going, you’re mostly right. There is a formula at work here that won’t exactly keep you guessing. The unlikely friends slowly learn more about each other, deeper secrets are revealed, and they have a falling out, only to be reunited by a happy ending. For the most part, this story, though familiar, is told well enough. The performances are as impressive as one might expect from the talent involved, and the depiction of a completely human gay man is surprisingly ahead of its time for 1999. Hoffman has created a whole character that is funny and moving and wise but tragically imperfect. Strangely, as if their lives weren’t complicated enough (Rusty is paying a married man for sex), the crime that set this story in motion continues as a mostly unrelated subplot. It does make for an exciting climax, but we spend a significant amount of time distracted from the themes covered by Walt and Rusty’s relationship, and in the end, the two plots don’t really come together in a dramatically satisfying way.
That’s a shame, because Schumacher’s script raises some intriguing ideas. From the start, the two characters are equals. Not only do they share screen time as lead characters, but in a cleverly cut scene depicting the two leaving the building to hit the town, an important comparison is made. Rusty is, of course, dressing up as a woman. He has never thought of himself as a man, and so he sets a wig, perfects his makeup, synthesizes a few breasts, and becomes the person he dreams of being. Walt, with De Niro showing his age, is clearly looking older than he would prefer. He tweezes and trims, and he uses a color treatment to comb out the grey from his hair. No matter your orientation, or your gender, everyone has something they would change if they could, and everyone, from teenage girls, to drag queens, creates their ideal image.
That’s a nice step away from heteronormativity, at a time when that buzzword wasn’t on the tip of most people’s tongues. It’s not a perfect film, and it’s probably not a perfect depiction of the diversity of gay life, but the movie charms and intrigues, regardless. It never gets as cheesy or sentimental as its premise sounds. It remains, for the most part, grounded and real.
Flawless is now available on Blu-ray from Olive Films
