paul2001sw-1 The persecution of gay people in the 20th century had some strange side-effects. Take the career of Liberace, the celebrity pianist, who styled himself according to the most outre social conventions of the gay community, but sued anyone who mentioned his sexuality. Liberace also had a series of semi-contractual relationships with much younger men, which one can see as the sort of thing a certain type of rich person might chose to do, but which surely seemed more natural in a world where a more orthodox relationship was socially prohibited. Steven Sodebergh's film shows us scenes from Liberace's life, but also portrays a very odd person and it doesn't really manage to make us feel sympathetic at a personal level, however much one acknowleges the potentially hostile world he had to navigate. Perhaps a full biopic, showing how he became the man we see in this movie, would have been more revealing.

leethomas-11621 One of the funniest (and most tragic!) movies ever. Two heterosexual actors play the gay leads magnificently.

bregund Watch any clip of Liberace on youtube and, despite your awareness of his personal life, you have to agree that he was a natural showman. I remember seeing him on TV in the 70s and woman loved him, my mom went nuts. It's easy to see why, because he pulled the audience into his performances and made you feel like you were part of it. It's not easy to do this, and he made it look effortless in the way that some outstanding entertainers do, like Michael Jackson or Madonna. That critical element is missing from this film. When you peel back the layers of showmanship, you want to see what makes up the person behind them, and this film doesn't accomplish that goal or explain Liberace's complicated life. I had high hopes for Douglas, but for some reason he just doesn't click, his delivery is off, and you can't buy him as Liberace, you just see Michael Douglas in heavy makeup. Matt Damon gives a suitably understated performance and he is a dead ringer for Scott Thorson.Ironically, given what are supposed to be colorful main characters, the real stars of the show are the supporting characters: an unrecognizable Debbie Reynolds as Liberace's mother, Dan Akroyd as Liberace's snappy lawyer, Scott Bakula as Bob Black, and of course Rob Lowe, who steals every scene he's in. Maybe Rob Lowe should have played Liberace.

Theo Robertson Ah a bio-pic on the flamboyant self styled "Mister Showmanship" and rabid heterosexual Liberace "Eh hold on Theo . You do realise Liberace was gay don't you" Really ? I do remember British tabloid rag The Daily Mirror in the 1950s implied Liberace was gay . They didn't come out and say it in so many words but merely implied it and this led to them losing a libel case . Likewise an American publication from around the same time did the same thing that resulted in the same outcome and Mr Showmanship cried all the way to the bank to cash those cheques . In other words he was an utter hypocrite who spent much of his life living a massive lie . How'd he get away with it ? I'm reminded of a BBC documentary from many years ago called REPUTATIONS where Bob Monkhouse told of a time where he revisited an ATV studio after a gap of four years and remembered everyone by name and asked how they and their relatives were . He remembered each and everyones name and the names of their relatives . As Monkhouse stated "There wasn't a single person in the studio who didn't gasp wow what a guy" . Liberace had that sort of cheesy charm that propelled him to if not superstardom then at least to showman fame . He understood who and what his audience was and made the most of it BEHIND THE CANDELABRA was many years in the making but kept being delayed because director Steven Soderberg couldn't decide how to tell the story . I'm afraid in my opinion it shows to an extent . It's not an affectionate love letter to its subject but at the same time it's not the schlocky campfest that it hints it might become . You want someone playing Liberace then who better to play him than Michael Douglas in what must be the most challenging role of his career . And get him to play the role by wearing a wig that wouldn't look out of place perched on top of Gary Glitter's bald head . Douglas has a whale of time playing the role and while he's not exactly channeling the dead spirit of Liberace it does capture the opulent over the top camp nature of Mister Showmanship and one did hope at this point the film would just throw its hand in and have the rest of the film continue in the same way . Unfortunately the story uses Scott Thorson's book as its source material and when Damon - equally cast against type - the film has a rather serious tone that's maybe a bit too respectful . It's a tragic story but one might have hoped for a bit more tragic-comedy