A great film if Kenneth Russell had made it!

Rating: 5/10 (20 October 2013)

An enjoyable film with knock-out performances by Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, but in the end it is a little dull and empty because it is simply yet another relationship film. It could be When Harry Met Sally - albeit gay and with a somewhat unhappy ending. It strikes me that by focussing purely on relationships an enormous chance has been missed: Liberace was an astonishing phenomenon in his day, there must be more tell and show about his motivation, his talents (which obviously extended way beyond just tickling the ivories), his background, his mother, etc etc. Imagine doing the same to James Brown, say, or David Bowie, you know, giving maybe five minutes of them on stage and the rest about their mundane love lives? Does it make sense? What a shame Kenneth Russell wasn't still around to knock this potentially amazing material into real shape. Then the film would have earned nine stars at least!