Word: hoffman
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...soldiers drank beer around the concrete picnic table outside their barracks at Fort Campbell, Ky. "He would say he was on 'smack' since he was 10," Private First Class Nikita Sanarov said, "and had been on probation since he was 12. Stuff like that." Recalls Private First Class Arthur Hoffman: "He was just trying to make himself look like a badass. The stories were pretty out there...
...Paul Hoffman, president of Encyclopaedia Britannica, knows zero well, having received one in penmanship in second grade
...York, but as writer he should have spent more time exploring the down-and-dirty grit of his protagonists. The screenplay itself does precious little to expand upon the two stereotypes of a bigot and a drag queen. That task falls into the actors hands. Fortunately, De Niro and Hoffman have very capable hands indeed, and they almost manage to elevate the script in spite of itself not quite, but almost...
...scene-stealer is Hoffman, who follows up on his fine work in Happiness and Boogie Nights. With his undulating voice and quick reversals of emotion, he nicely portrays Rusty's painful limbo between lonely man and gaudy transvestite. Reading in between his frequently trite lines, Hoffman exposes Rusty's inner vulnerability. De Niro, too, raises his Walt above mere caricature. His subtle expressions reveal the pain of an independent man losing his mobility while his cautious moves towards Rusty make the burgeoning friendship relatively believable...
...Ultimately, however, Hoffman and De Niro are stymied by the limitations of the film's concept. Flawless just doesn't have enough to say. Because it never ventures beyond the audiences expectations, it fails to challenge. And so it fails to truly entertain. Flawless preaches that we should look beneath the surface. Too bad the film didn't take its own advice...