Flawless with its amazing chemistry and pluperfect performances by Robert DeNiro and Philip Seymour Hoffman is a very funny film which flows effortlessly into some dramatic moments. But very few want to talk about the social implications of it.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is a female impersonator who lives in the same apartment building as Robert DeNiro, a retired policeman who works as a security guard. During a robbery of a drug dealer, one of Hoffman's fellow drag performers is killed and DeNiro suffers a stroke trying to prevent the crime. The drug dealers can't exactly go to the police with their story, but they have other methods of dealing with transgressors.

DeNiro and Hoffman have nothing in common at all and usually confine any conversations they have with some usual shouted epithets. But DeNiro's doctor advises singing lessons as a form of speech therapy and he goes to Hoffman. They develop an unusual friendship.

More unusual because it turns out that Hoffman has the stolen loot. And why Hoffman is keeping it is a matter of life and quality thereof.

Hoffman is not dressing in drag for effect or to make money as a performer. Hoffman's real drag is the body parts God gave him because they don't match what's inside. Hoffman is a transgendered soul and the cost of a sex change operation is more than he could earn in a few lifetimes.

Here in America our insurance companies amazingly regard a sex change as cosmetic surgery. Scary idea, but true. Recently I had some talks with a transgender person from the United Kingdom. There the debate is whether their socialized medicine system should be paying for the sex change. Either way it is frightening situation that Hoffman is put in with all that cash suddenly in his possession and the chance of matching heart and soul to body can be realized.

Especially after just winning an Oscar for Capote, Philip Seymour Hoffman isn't worried about getting cast in gay roles. From the lovestruck Scotty G in Boogie Nights, to Flawless, and now to Capote, Hoffman's making one great career for himself going gay. But all three of those parts show an astonishing range and a courageous player willing to accept and master challenging roles.

Of course Robert DeNiro is great, he's never anything else. And he's back in the world of lower Manhattan that he knows so well. His character turns out to be a person of great character and more than just physical strength.

Flawless is a film that will make you laugh and cry, but even more important will make you think.

Walt Koontz (Robert De Niro) is a highly honored retired policeman, living in a community with many gays. Rusty Zimmerman (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a drag queen, neighbor of Walt, who aims to make a surgery for changing his sex. One day, the money of a powerful boss of a gang in the neighborhood is stolen and the criminals chase the thief and kill his girlfriend and him in the building where Walt lives. Listening to the shots, Walt gets his gun and chases the murderers. However, he has a stroke and becomes half paralyzed. Along his treatment, his doctor suggests singing classes with Rusty to improve his speech. The initial lack of respect between Walt and Rusty becomes a friendship in the end of the story. Meanwhile, the bandits look for the missing stolen money. This movie was a great surprise for me: I did not expected much, since drama it is not the specialty of Joel Schumacher. But indeed it is a very good film, with a touching story. The dialogs between Robert De Niro and Philip Seymour Hoffman are excellent. The story is about respect, specially for the minorities, showing that nobody is flawless. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): `Ninguém É Perfeito' (`Nobody is Perfect')

You know how comedies are supposed to make you laugh? Well, "Flawless" makes you laugh, but you're not laughing at what happens in the movie; you're laughing at the fact that the movie didn't come out very good. Certainly the idea of a homophobic cop having to make amends with a drag queen seems like it could make an interesting movie, but they didn't do it here. The whole thing just drags. The movie doesn't even really have any clever lines. Robert DeNiro should have known better than to star in this, and I think that we can all agree that Philip Seymour Hoffman did a much better job playing a gay person in "Capote".

All in all, pathetic.