Caine puts 'Flawless' on ice

It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to title one's film "Flawless," knowing disapproving reviewers will have a field day firing off obvious, smug little pot shots at your inevitably imperfect movie.

But that's shooting fish in a barrel. Director Michael Radford trades the brisk pacing and intricate technical machinations of the customary heist film for a more deliberate, fairly complex telling. Even if that turns the piece into a rather sluggish exercise — not helped by an only moderately compelling leading lady and the intrusion of too many anachronisms — the cunning plot twists of Edward Anderson's script and Michael Caine's expert underplaying give the picture an injection of interest whenever it begins to flag.

After a present-day encounter in a London cafe between a young reporter and philanthropist Laura Quinn, the film segues to 1961, cued by Dave Brubeck's signature "Take Five." Here, we meet the younger Quinn (Demi Moore) as an ambitious, driven executive at the monolithic London Diamond Corp. Despite having made inroads in the hermetically sealed all-boys club, displaying dedication and a savvy grasp of issues as a skilled international negotiator, she finds herself passed over again and again for promotion.

Enter Mr. Hobbs (Caine), whose job as a custodian at the corporate offices renders him invisible not only to the self-absorbed executives, but to the rest of the rank and file. It's the ideal position from which to plan and execute an elaborate crime. The man who empties trash bins and clean desks tends to be privy to certain incautiously held secrets, and there's much more to the quietly observant Hobbs than meets the eye.

Knowing full well how frustrated Quinn is by the glass ceiling that traps her, he approaches the lady with a scheme to steal a fortune in diamonds and exact a measure of revenge. Incredulous at first, she changes her mind after intercepting a letter that reveals she's about to be fired.

Quinn, seeing a chance at a real life after years of sacrifice, throws in with him. But Hobbs has more in mind than he lets on. Diamond theft, no matter how outrageous, is just the tip of this "ice"-berg.

Not to be confused with the 1999 Robert De Niro-Philip Seymour Hoffman film of the same name, "Flawless" gets solid support from veteran British character actors Lambert Wilson ("The Matrix"), Nathaniel Parker (TV's "The Inspector Lynley Mysteries") and the always reliable Joss Ackland (as the beleaguered diamond corporation chief).

This is not to say that the movie hasn't its share of deficiencies, several of them glaring. The slow pace may or may not suit you, as Radford spends more time on talk and aftermath than the caper itself, the accomplishment of which is patently absurd. And the climax is jarringly sentimental, a needless nod to female empowerment and "selfless" philanthropy. Sensibilities more appropriate to 2008 are grafted onto 1961 throughout.

The stolid, chilly quality to Moore's acting serves her better in this film than in most, given her character's reserve, but whenever Caine or Wilson (in a semi-sympathetic role for a change) is on screen with her, our attention shifts to them. Moore just can't compete. Caine, a film world treasure, is especially fine, though one suspects he's cackling inwardly at the silliness of it all.

Reach Bill Thompson at bthompson@postandcourier.com or 937-5707.