a flat, boring film where director Michael Radford fails to find the rhythm, danger and excitement of a caper movie.
Flawless (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:86
Fresh:47
Rotten:39
Average Rating:5.7/10
Consensus: Michael Caine's excellent performance makes Flawless something more than an average heist movie.
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $1,146,525
Synopsis: Michael Radford (IL POSTINO) brings an artful touch to Edward Anderson's screenplay with FLAWLESS, a serious account of a remarkable heist at London Diamond, one of the world's premier diamond... Michael Radford (IL POSTINO) brings an artful touch to Edward Anderson's screenplay with FLAWLESS, a serious account of a remarkable heist at London Diamond, one of the world's premier diamond holders. Set in 1960s London, the film focuses on Laura Quinn (Demi Moore), a woman so driven she's chosen career over personal life and found her way into the boys' club known as the diamond business. As Laura gets overlooked for a manager position year after year, she resolves to work even harder, hoping that, despite her history, her efforts will one day pay off. Ironically, it's Mr. Hobbs (Michael Caine), a night janitor, who takes note of Laura's frustration. The seemingly simple Mr.Hobbs finds a way to use this to his advantage, proposing a plan that will only work with Laura's cooperation. When Laura rejects the offer, Mr. Hobbs encourages her to question just what's holding her back, personally and professionally. While Laura's precarious position within a male-dominated world gives her understandable motive, Mr. Hobbs's is trickier to decipher. The story is based on a fictional heist, but the film is faithful to its setting. Beautiful costumes and sets and strong attention to detail instantly transport viewers back to a different era. Moore's performance may feel wooden at times, but this is fitting considering the obstacles a woman in her position and time would have been up against. Her acting chops come through when she finally breaks down, only to have to pull herself back together for a room full of her male colleagues. Caine seems predictably at ease in his role as Mr. Hobbs, who drives the plot from behind his unassuming mop and duster. Though slow-moving at first, this stylish thriller slyly draws its audience in as its characters take on more depth. [More]
Starring: Demi Moore, Michael Caine, Lambert Wilson, Joss Ackland
Starring: Demi Moore, Michael Caine, Lambert Wilson, Joss Ackland
Director: Michael Radford
Director: Michael Radford
Screenwriter: Edward A. Anderson
Producer: Mark Williams, Michael Pierce
Composer: Stephen Warbeck
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Reviews for Flawless
Moore redeems herself from the mediocrity of her Brat Pack years and the career-killing mistakes of early adulthood. Having matured into a convincing middle-age actor, she comes across as intelligent, sophisticated and driven.
...a film that is at once a heist movie that feels sprung from its time and place and one that casts a modern eye on feminism, Apartheid and even health care...a solid little gem.
Michael Radford's leisurely paced Flawless digs itself into a deep, cavernous hole in its opening scene and never manages to crawl out of it.
Flawless makes an entertainingly nostalgic journey to old Britain -- that black-and-white world we remember from long-ago Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean movies.
For all its stodginess, however, Flawless is a reasonably good time, for one reason. The reason's name is Maurice Micklewhite, better known as Michael Caine.
For the most part Radford turns in a hushed, marble-polished heist film with a genuine sense of tension and mystery
Priority numero uno in a heist movie should be making the robbery giddily dangerous, but Flawless has all the sizzle of a bank teller on Monday morning.
It's a satisfying picture enhanced by a few great sequences, and proves there's still plenty of life in heist cinema.
What distinguishes Flawless from other movies of the kind, unfortunately, is its absence of humor.
Flawless is the sort of movie that tends to get called 'enjoyably old-fashioned,' except that there’s nothing enjoyable about it.
How can an actress with Moore's carnal screen presence be so underused by carnally minded Hollywood?
It's good disposable entertainment that offers the right mix of character identification, plot unpredictability, and suspense to keep viewers interested throughout.
It's left to Caine to wink and nod at his own contribution to real caper classics of the 1960s and '70s, produced with more emphasis on fun and less on instructive fact-finding.
Revealing when it needs to be and unpredictable when you least expect it.
As complex a mindbending crime caper as you could hope to wrap your head around.
Latest News for Flawless
November 28, 2008:
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It's Friday, there's a new raft of movies in the UK cinemas this week, but are any of them any good? This week the UK film hacks give us their opinions on Clint Eastwood's... More...
March 26, 2008:
Michael Caine and Demi Moore team to make complex cat-and-mouse caper. ![]()
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February 17, 2008:
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February 09, 2008:
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