Flawless

FLAWLESS (2007) - May 31, 2009
A handsomely made but otherwise dull heist film about a woman working in a large diamond company in the '60s who decides to go into cahoots with a janitor to steal some diamonds. The problem with this film is that it just isn't particularly interesting; it takes way too long to get going, and then when it does, it keeps the audience in the dark about how and why the heist was pulled off the way that it was, in favour of a dramatic last-minute reveal. The film seems to be operating more as a drama than a conventional heist movie, which is fine, only the two main characters are kind of thinly developed -- Demi Moore's character essentially spends the bulk of the film looking shifty, and Michael Caine's intentions are left foggy until the last few moments of the film. There is also a lot of time spent with essentially superfluous side characters, which doesn't help. Nor does the fact that a framing device set in the present essentially removes much of the tension, as it's fairly clear that Demi Moore has gotten away with it. The film isn't completely terrible -- Michael Caine was quite good as always, and Demi Moore was fine I guess -- but it doesn't work particularly well as a heist movie or as a drama, so I'm kind of wondering what the point was. **