Flawless
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour, 48 minutes
Directed by: Michael Radford
Starring:
Demi Moore - Laura Quinn
Michael Caine - Mr. Hobbs
Lambert Wilson - Finch
I don't know how women break through the glass ceiling. According to Flawless, working twice as hard and being twice as smart as all the boys won't make you popular but it will make you bitter and self-righteous and stealing millions of dollars worth of diamonds will certainly take your mind off being screwed out of yet another promotion. Thus we have the premise for this flimsy, flaccid, commentary-caper starring Demi Moore and Michael Caine.
Moore plays Laura Quinn, a junior exec in a diamond cartel who, despite her tenacity, is constantly passed over for a promotion because she lacks a y-chromosome. But when things are looking down, never count out the kindly old night janitor (Caine) to propose a caper that will bring sweet revenge against your chauvinist bosses and comfortable living for the rest of your days.
If Michael Caine hadn't been in this film, it would be one of the most lifeless excuses for cinema I'd ever seen. It would be lights and sounds broadcast at 24 frames per second and with a narrative and characters so dry and un-engaging that you'd have better spent your time just staring at a screensaver for a hundred minutes. Demi Moore has never conveyed to me that she has a personality and Flawless does nothing to change my opinion that she's completely unremarkable in every imaginable way. Unfortunately, this is her film and Caine's winning charm can'’t be there to save her in every scene.
Flawless has no idea what it is or what it wants to be. Does it want to be a wry commentary on women using their smarts to shatter the glass ceiling rather than waiting their turn for a male superior to come along and break the glass for them? Does it want to be a touching story about how stealing is wrong but it's not horribly wrong if you use the money for good causes? Does it just want to be an entertaining heist flick? Unfortunately, all it really achieves is the illusion of movement by running still images through a projector. If you see Flawless and the film gets caught in the projector, then it's a complete failure.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
3.26.08