He's brooding, as usual, but his playing partial paralysis and suicidal depression impressed me. I thought the whole thing had a gritty, realistic edge to it that I appreciate in a movie. I was surprised Hoffman got no Oscar-play in it that year, quite frankly. I laughed only a couple of times and it was needlessly confusing at times. I can't recommend this to anyone, for any reason.
Every single character is hateful, vicious and it was hard spending time with that many jerks.
There is even a surprise party at one point, which brings together the drag queens and DeNiro's 'friends', and that is a joyless event, too. I agree with the opinion that the performances were solid, but the storyline just wasn't there. Hoffman does deserve an Oscar nod. Let's see, Albert Einstein, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Thomas Alva Edison all had disabilities. Heaven forbid any decent actor would want to portray them.