Over-hyped

Rating: 5/10 (6 March 2014)

I wish as a culture we had matured to being over homophobia so that the mere choice to play a gay man wasn't seen as "brave" or "out of comfort zone" or remarkable but just as another role. Then we could judge this movie and the acting jobs on their merits, and not through the lens of either homophobia or defensiveness.
I wish, too, that the filmmakers had put more thought into the nature of hangers-on to celebrities, to the why of that beyond a facile pop psychology explanation, and to the benefits to each party of such arrangements. (Though perhaps this would make them look too closely at their own marriages and friendships and failures, so maybe that's too much for me to wish.) Without more than a surface examination of those issues, what we get here is a pretty faithful version of the jilted boy toy's story (based on his rather whiny book of maybe truth and maybe lies), and so a frustratingly shallow presentation of this one story and the phenomenon of hangers on, groupies, and entourages of our de facto royalty here in the U.S: show biz people.
What's quite good here is production design, props, costume and make-up and the choice to introduce Liberace in a high-energy performance. (He really could play the piano, but the awfulness of his costumes and staging made him hard to watch and take seriously.) The supporting performances of Lowe as the creepy groupie-doctor-dealer to the stars and Reynolds as Lee's mom were both terrific, and Reynolds (speaking of plastic surgery) being willing to look that old and dowdy was likely as brave a choice as the hip grinding between the two leads. I honestly finished the film thinking "huh, I thought Debbie Reynolds was in this" and then it dawned on me who she had played. This always seems a sign to me of good acting, when the actor disappears into the role.
Overall, I was disappointed at this slight effort and expected more because of the hype and awards. I'm glad I got it from my library rather than paying a dollar to rent it.