FLAWLESS
Directed by Michael Radford; written by Edward A. Anderson; director of photography, Richard Greatrex; edited by Peter Boyle; music by Stephen Warbeck
With: Demi Moore, Michael Caine, Lambert Wilson, Nathaniel Parker, Shaughan Seymour, Joss Ackland, and Nicholas Jones. PG-13. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Reviewed Joel Johnson

Recently, I reviewed The Bank Job and criticized it because the title seemed to be far too simplistic and unoriginal for the complex portrait of Britain that served both as backdrop and impetus for the audacious crime at the heart of Roger Donaldson’s outstanding film. Michael Radford’s film could carry such titles as The Diamond Job or The Diamond Heist because this film is basically a pretty straightforward two-hander with old pros Michael Caine and Demi Moore holding all the cards.

These two are magnificent. Caine revels in the opportunity to use the working-class accent of his youth in portraying the elderly janitor-turned-jewel thief Mr. Hobbs-an unlikely criminal mastermind. He needs just a smidgen of inside help to pull off a heist at the London Diamond Corporation (think De Beers) and becomes a charming serpent offering forbidden fruit to Demi Moore’s frustrated middle-aged middle manager, who finds herself not only pressed against the 1960 glass ceiling for women’s achievement but also approaching the edge of a precipice as the London Diamond Corporation’s “fall-guy” for a financial downturn. Moore is outstanding just as she was in Emilio Estevez’s Bobby, playing another embittered woman past her prime.

Though Caine and Moore dominate the film, it would be unfair to ignore everything else. The film is a period piece set in 1960 and captures that time in its look. Perhaps even more than just showing the artifacts of that time, the casting, costuming, and cinematography capture the lockstep conformity so endemic to the London business world of this time. The employees of the London Diamond Corporation seem to be colorless, bland, and virtually interchangeable. There are some fine supporting performances that do stand out. Joss Ackland is superb as the diamond company’s aging chief executive Sir Milton Ashtoncroft, who guards his kingdom with all the sound and fury of a rampaging lion. French actor Lambert Wilson needs just a few moments of screen time to fashion insurance investigator Finch into a methodical professional who is threateningly suspicious yet conflicted by his own attraction to Moore’s Laura Quinn. Edward Anderson’s script is clever and agile except in the mechanics of the actual heist. The film should have built up a reservoir of audience goodwill that will allow this subtle but critical credibility misstep to be forgiven. Fans of Michael Caine and Demi Moore should be delighted.