Flawless [Blu-ray]

Two very different life styles collide. Pitty, racism, phobias, abuse, tragedy, drag, gay, inspiration, friendship, regret..Robert Denero and Phillip Seymor Hoffman...what a brilliant pair!

Phillip Seymour Hoffman's death has touched most of us. We feel a personal loss. Today, I heard an interview Seymour Hoffman gave to Terry Gross on a. 'Fresh Air' program about his career. One of the first roles he really coveted was that of playing a 'Drag Queen' opposite Robert DeNiro. I had not seen this film, today I did.Seymour Hoffman talked about how he found the personna of Rusty, the drag queen. He read all he could, and he met with several transgendered women. He studied their habits. He was a 5ft 10 in 200 lb man with a very deep voice trying to fit into the body of a female. Watching the film, you forget this is a man, Seymour Hoffman, he has become Rusty, and that was his greatness. He became the character. Although he concluded that Rusty was ugly, not to me. She became a woman with soul and guts, someone looking for love.DeNiro plays a retired Security Guard, who was once a hero, and now is recovering from a stroke. He had nothing but negatives to say about the transgendered community, Phillip Seymour Hoffman's death has touched most of us. We feel a personal loss. Today, I heard an interview Seymour Hoffman gave to Terry Gross on a. 'Fresh Air' program about his career. One of the first roles he really coveted was that of playing a 'Drag Queen' opposite Robert DeNiro. I had not seen this film, today I did.Seymour Hoffman talked about how he found the personna of Rusty, the drag queen. He read all he could, and he met with several transgendered women. He studied their habits. He was a 5ft 10 in 200 lb man with a very deep voice trying to fit into the body of a female. Watching the film, you forget this is a man, Seymour Hoffman, he has become Rusty, and that was his greatness. He became the character. Although he concluded that Rusty was ugly, not to me. She became a woman with soul and guts, someone looking for love.DeNiro plays a retired Security Guard, who was once a hero, and now is recovering from a stroke. He had nothing but negatives to say about the transgendered community, and even though they were neighbors, they never saw eye to eye. That is, until, De Niro's character, Walter Koontz needs Rusty. Learning to sing would help in his recovery, and he hires Rusty. It begins as a rocky relationship and ends up as friendship. This is a poignant film with a wacky charm.We will not see the likes of Phillip Seymour Hoffman again, what a sad, sad day. Bless his soul.Recommended. prisrob 02-03-14

This was such a surprise treasure! I laughed so hard…, and truly enjoyed the relationship that developed between Walt and Dusty.

I watched this movie because it had De Niro in it and I had never seen a movie that I didn't like that had him in it. After it first got going I was beginning to think I was not going to like it because of all the profanity in it. But then I got to thinking about the kind of characters that was playing--a bunch of thugs and criminals. So that kind of language would have been second nature to them and without it then the movie would not have been very realistic.I am not a prestigious person because I was a nurse for over 30 years and worked with and had patients from all walks of life--different races and different genders, so the transvestite part of the story didn't bother me. I love all types of people. When it comes down to it, we are all human and people with the same feelings.It was nice to see Walter (De Niro) slowly loose his prejudices and discover that his perception of people were all wrong. I loved what a good part that Philip Seymour Hoffman played as Rusty, the transvestite--I think he did a very good job of acting. As a nurse, I also thought that De Niro played the part of a stroke patient very realistically. The only thing that puzzled me about the movie was that no one ever mentioned if Walter had any family, and if so, where were they when he really needed them? I was also surprised that a retired cop would live in such a dump--didn't cops get enough pension to live better than that?The end of the movie was a surprise and I thought was very climatic! I loved the end! It could not have ended any better.

The story line of people learning to overcome their pre-conceived ideas about each other to forge new relationships and a new sense of community is solid. I didn't feel that any of the scenes were extraneous - they showed Walt's life and his friends, Miss Rusty's life and her friends, and the events that caused their lives to collide. There wasn't a bad bit of acting in the whole movie.But what set my little Rent-head heart aflutter were Daphne Rubin-Vega (the original Broadway Mimi Marquez) and Wilson Jermaine Heredia (Angel Dumott Schunard of both stage and screen). Especially Wilson.Daphne gives a good performance as Tia. When we first meet her she is sweet on Walt (DeNiro) while Walt only has eyes for Karen (Wanda De Jesus).Wilson is fabulous as Miss Cha-Cha. This role is not merely Angel 2.0. As with Angel, Cha-Cha's style (with the possible exception of Cha-Cha's pageant look...which gives a nod to the Rent fandom) does not involve changing Wilson's body shape through things such as padding or cinching and that's where the resemblance ends. Cha-Cha is sweet, flirty, frequently dressed in shorts with tight or midriff baring tops, absolutely rocks the boy-short bleached hair, and she's sweet on Walt. Cha-Cha's interactions with Walt are major indicators of how Walt's attitudes (and world) are changing. This is a performance to not miss out on.

This was a great movie. The storyline and writing were good and overall well delivered. DeNiro was not at his best while trying to recreate his character from 'Awakenings.' The real star was Philip Hoffman, who hammered his lines at every turn. He portrayed a gay man fighting his own demons, all the while trying to help DeNiro (a macho homophobe) recover from a stroke. Watching the characters played by Hoffman and DeNiro develop was very entertaining. If you like watching the realism of New York slum living, you'll like 'Flawless.'

I don't know why this film has such low rating. I love it. Perhaps if the conventional De Niro fans would be disappointed - he's not much of an action man here. Thumb up for him opening up for new challanges. However, the real star is Hoffman, who makes me feel he's more of a lady (regardless of the unladylike language). I noticed Hoffman's extraordinary performance from The Talented Mr Ripley - become a die hard fan after watching Doubt. He is surely missed.

This is a little gem of a film. Philip Seymour Hoffman never made a bad movie, a sad loss. The subject matter may not be to everyone's taste but I definitely recommend giving it a try. It's very good De Nero is excellent as the nasty bigoted cop who has suffered a stroke. ( not your obvious happy story line) but I urge you to give it a try.

The Chemistry between De Niro and Hoffman was good. We lost a wonderful actor when Philip passed away R.I.P.

I am very fond of both actors and had not even heard of this movie before I saw it on Amazon. It is a drama which draws you instantly to both characters, one that is harassed for being gay and a drag queen singer, and the other battling challenges after a stroke. How they cope with each other and stand up for each other with a real bond. I recommend it!

I bought this movie as I am collecting all of the DVDs I can find with the actors Robert De Niro, Kevin Spacey and Al Pacino in them. This particular DVD for Robert De Niro.I found this movie actually rather good, the storyline has a little thought to it and though it is no Pulp Fiction for prose it does have a number of amusing instances.The story revolves around a bigotted ex-cop (De Niro) who has suffered a stroke whilst trying to prevent the murder of a prostitute in his apartment building. To aid his recouperation he is given singing lessons by an outwardly gay transvestite and the film then turns into a buddy movie. There are feel good moments and there are disturbing scenes when the transvestite is being attacked but as with these feel-good movies it all turns out alright, its not the best De Niro movie I've seen but it definitely is not the worst either.