Walter Koontz is a highly decorated "local hero" officer of the New York police department who lives in a downtown apartment complex. Despite his locale and rampant run of drag queens in his building, he tends to keep to himself and still lives a life involved with lovely women, dancing and dining. One night, he hears gunshots upstairs, and while ascending to help suffers a stroke. He awakens with the right side of his body paralyzed resulting in poor speech and posture, and giving him an unrecoverable limp that requires him to use a cane to get around.
He suffers a massive blow to his ego, and Walter becomes ashamed to be seen in public in such a fashion. Rusty is one of Walter's drag queen neighbors, and the two are at odds constantly due to their differing lifestyles. Rusty has a desire to undergo a sex reassignment surgery, but lacks the money to do so. When Walter comes to Rusty to use his musical talents for voice lessons to overcome his impediment, the pair, while at first argumentative and uncomfortable with each other, slowly become friends. Walter begins to gain confidence and make strides to return to a normal life. However, their friendship is marred when Rusty shows Walter a stash of money, hidden in the body of his dress making mannequin, which is enough to pay for his operation. When Walter inquires how Rusty got the money, Rusty says he stole it from a drug pusher, who was also responsible for the attack the night Walter had his stroke. Outraged by this, Walter and Rusty part ways angrily.
One night, after returning from a drag beauty contest called "Flawless", Rusty is accosted by the criminals who had crept into his apartment to find the stolen money. Walter hears the commotion and runs up to save Rusty's life. Rusty locks himself in the bedroom, and when Walter comes in, the criminals turn their attention to him, prompting Rusty to return the favor. In the fight, Walter is shot by the criminals, but the pair are able to subdue them. While boarding an ambulance with Walter, Rusty gives the paramedics the stolen cash to ensure that Walter is okay. The pair again rekindle their friendship, setting their personal differences aside.
"Tia's Tango" – Bruce Roberts; Gohl; Sarah McLachlan
"Luciano" – Bruce Roberts; Gohl; Sarah McLachlan
Production
Casting
Hoffman considered De Niro to be the most imposing actor that he had ever worked with, noting how De Niro had the ability during the shooting to "listen" to him as an actor, and in turn, make Hoffman respond similarly because of his unique style of acting. Hoffman felt that his exposure to that level of acting profoundly improved his own abilities as an actor.
Reception
Review-aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes reports a 41% approval rating based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 5.22/10, and a consensus reading: "Robert De Niro and Philip Seymour Hoffman's Flawless performances live up to this dramedy's title; unfortunately, they're outweighed by the misguided picture surrounding them." Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "C" on scale of A+ to F. Hoffman was praised by critics for his ability to avoid clichés in playing such a delicate role. Emily VanDerWerff, a transgender film critic, praised the warmth of his portrayal of Rusty, commenting that "Hoffman’s work is quiet, moving, and humanistic, and it provides the film with a core Schumacher doesn’t remotely earn. No matter; this is another movie worth seeing almost entirely for the titanic work Hoffman does near its center." Roger Ebert highlighted Hoffman as "one of the best new character actors", remarking that he was "able to take a flamboyant role and find the quiet details in it". Hoffman received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Lead Actor.
