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Flawless
Magnolia Pictures


7.1

based on 21 reviews
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based on 6 votes
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FILM:

Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for brief strong language

Starring Michael Caine, and Demi Moore

Flawless is a clever diamond-heist thriller set in swinging 1960s London. Demi Moore plays Laura Quinn, a bright, driven, and beautiful executive at the London Diamond Corporation who finds herself frustrated by a glass ceiling after years of faithful employment, as man after man is promoted ahead of her despite her greater experience. Michael Caine is Hobbs, the nighttime janitor at London Diamond who is virtually invisible to the executives who work there, but over the years has amassed a startling amount of knowledge about how the company runs. Hobbs has his own bone to pick with London Diamond and, observing Laura's frustration, convinces her to help him execute an ingenious plan to steal a hefty sum in diamonds. But unbeknownst to Laura, Hobbs plans go even further than he's let on, and together they set in motion a thrilling heist of dizzying proportions, the likes of which London has never seen. (Magnolia)

GENRE(S):	Crime \| Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Edward Anderson
DIRECTED BY:	Michael Radford
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 3, 2008 Theatrical: March 28, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	100 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

ReelViews James Berardinelli

As heist films go, Radford has crafted an engaging, if not especially memorable one, with Flawless.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

The pleasure of watching such well-crafted entertainment offsets the small disappointments.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

In the diamond-heist thriller Flawless, there aren't a lot of diamonds, heists or thrills. But there is a nice sense of style, and appreciation for tense face-to-face confrontations among characters trying to ignore the temptations around them.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Flawless is a fictional tale, but something in director Michael Radford's conscientious, methodical presentation gives it the feeling of true history.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

It's assured and neatly crafted - the time zips by while you're watching it.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Caine is reason enough to see any movie. He gives this clever, somewhat lumbering caper movie a deep-seated soul.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

A modest little caper film that satisfies chiefly because of its relative familiarity and lack of ambition.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

The joy of this movie, which features Joss Ackland as a memorably intimidating, Afrikaner-accented boss, is in the gradual revelation of intrigue.

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

Over all though, this is a first rate caper piece elevated by Caine’s effortlessly elegant portrayal. The movie is wall to wall with pompous, sexist, greedy backstabbers and it’s a hoot to watch Hobbs mop the floor with the lot of them.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Polished but oddly lifeless heist thriller.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

The filmmakers' narrative device of framing Quinn's tale as a feature-length flashback doesn't pay off - we get a goody-two-shoes moral lesson at the end, and a look at movie studio aging makeup gone wild.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

I enjoyed seeing Joss Ackland as well. The veteran character actor with the world’s lowest voice plays the diamond company chairman, and when he rumbles out orders, it’s like Sensurround never left us.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The heist in Flawless comes at the film's midpoint, but although Radford wrings some nice suspense from the sequence, the theft isn't his primary focus here. It's what happens next.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

A mildly diverting period heist movie.

The Hollywood Reporter Gregory Valens

Not the freshest heist movie ever made, Flawless still has a few pleasures to offer, thanks to a well-studied social and political background and to Michael Caine's lovely creation.

Variety Jonathan Holland

As neatly tailored, clean-cut, and visually appealing as a Savile Row suit. But audiences accustomed to more knowing fare are likely to find its twists and turns outdated while yearning for a little of the rebellious fun that made the genre gleam in the first place.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Moore hasn't tackled a lead role since the turn of the century, and judging by her eminently forgettable work here, she hasn't spent that time painstakingly honing her chops.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

It's left to Caine to wink and nod at his own contribution to real caper classics of the 1960s and '70s, produced with more emphasis on fun and less on instructive fact-finding.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Flawless never begins to live up to its title.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The plot contortions that very slowly unfold under Michael Radford's arthritic direction in Flawless are not much more entertaining.

Village Voice Scott Foundas

Flawless is the sort of movie that tends to get called "enjoyably old-fashioned," except that there's nothing enjoyable about it. The pacing is torpid, the plotting slack, and the performances utterly joyless--chiefly Moore, who walks through every scene with her face stretched into an expressionless mask, her lips pressed into a permanent pout.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Bob E. gave it an8:
A gem. Flawless is a heist movie where the motives are more complicated than the usual "it's all about the money." The very human thieves, Moore and Caine, have believable human reasons for doing it. And they sweat bullets in the process. When they pull it off you're more thrilled than you are usually with these capers - where the motives of the thieves are the same as that of nine-year-old shoplifters; to get away with it, (by being oh-so clever) and to have the toys thus purloined. Revenge, such as powered the gang in The Italian Job, is juicier than greed. The English TV series Hustle is fun because the charming characters only work their scams on those who richly deserve to be taken. Caine, the old pro, has created a marvelous character in Hobbs the janitor here. See Flawless and you won't come away feeling ripped-off.

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Flawless Magnolia Pictures

Flawless
Magnolia Pictures