Walter Koontz (Robert De Niro) is a retired conservative cop living in a Hell's Kitchen slum across from a noisy drag queen named Rusty (Philip Seymour Hoffman). When he suffers a stroke while trying to rescue a prostitute from being murdered in an apartment above his, Walt is recommended to begin taking singing lessons to restore movement on the right side of his face (which has become paralyzed). Due to the fact that he has little money and can't leave his apartment complex, Walt begins to take lessons from Rusty - who lives in a flamboyantly decorated area ("Welcome to fairyland!") and is often visited by drag queen friends.
This sounds like a lame buddy-movie formula - and it's not great - but it was better than I expected, especially coming from one of the cinema's worst living directors, Joel Schumacher. But even Schumacher has made some genuinely good films ("Phone Booth" and "Falling Down" are his best) -- and this is one of them.
It's not all that good, but it's slightly above-average and is really worth seeing for its amazing performances. De Niro is good (in a role similar to that in "Awakenings") but it's Hoffman - pre-"Capote" Oscar - who totally steals the show as Rusty, portraying him (or is it "her"?) as a deep and troubled human being. The little scenes such as the one where Rusty mentions his family and his conservative father are what add more to the character.
This is a bit too gritty and dark -- it's not the light-hearted buddy comedy that the ads make it out to be (the trailer is totally misleading) -- but I found it engaging and well-acted.
This sounds like a lame buddy-movie formula - and it's not great - but it was better than I expected, especially coming from one of the cinema's worst living directors, Joel Schumacher. But even Schumacher has made some genuinely good films ("Phone Booth" and "Falling Down" are his best) -- and this is one of them.
It's not all that good, but it's slightly above-average and is really worth seeing for its amazing performances. De Niro is good (in a role similar to that in "Awakenings") but it's Hoffman - pre-"Capote" Oscar - who totally steals the show as Rusty, portraying him (or is it "her"?) as a deep and troubled human being. The little scenes such as the one where Rusty mentions his family and his conservative father are what add more to the character.
This is a bit too gritty and dark -- it's not the light-hearted buddy comedy that the ads make it out to be (the trailer is totally misleading) -- but I found it engaging and well-acted.