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 A perfect name for a perfect film. What else could you expect? Mary, don't ask or I'll break your face. Yes, the gritty world of N.Y. drag queens and local whores meets up the revenge-seeking heavy-fisted drug dealers when a big boss gets robbed by one of his needy, seedy, greedy dealers. The big boys leave no stone (or stick of furniture) unturned in an attempt to retrieve the hidden stash of stolen cash. A retired policeman living across the airshaft from much of this madness hears trouble afoot and tries to offer assistance, but, as gunfire leads to murder and fate takes a terrible turn, this ex-cop winds up in need of assistance himself.
For years preceding this chain of events, however, Walt Koontz (Robert De Niro) passes his uneventful retirement to the best of his abilities in a shoddy tenement house on the Lower East Side of New York City. Once having been awarded a medal for shooting two bank robbers and saving several hostages in the act, his life now consists of the few simple joys left to him. Generally greeted by residents during the daytime who regard him as a hero, he dances his evenings away at the nearby tango palace, usually ending the night in the rapturous arms of an attractive lady. Nowadays, however, it would seem the ladies, like his girlfriend Karin (Wanda de Jesus), are usually more interested in his money than his looks. The one exception to the rule is the smitten Tia (Daphne Rubin-Vega) whom he ignores for all the wrong reasons. His domestic peace is often disturbed by a group of drag queens rehearsing their latest revues, accompanied by the lively piano tunes of his red-wigged neighbor, Rusty Zimmerman (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Privately, the fifty-something ex- marine Koontz tries to hold the pieces of his life together whereas the out-spoken, street-wise Rusty, in parallel fashion, watches his (her?) life falling apart. Rusty frequently finds solace in identifying with various film goddesses. On one occasion, returning from drowning his sorrows in alcohol after his mother's funeral, Rusty reinforces himself with thoughts of Lana Turner in "Ziegfeld Girl." This Manhattan homestead often resembles a melting pot stewing with losers and lost illusions. Both main characters manage to survive by disguising their individual tragedies.
The meeting between conservative Koontz and outrageous Rusty finds their worlds colliding until fate joins them together in an odd and unexpected mutual respect. Their initial dislike for each other stems from clich-ridden concepts. Both have had their share of hard times and both have "seen it all." At first sight, they seem tremendously different from each other, but the similarities grow more obvious with time. When the ex-cop has a stroke (affecting both movement and speech), he is confronted with a predicament that he dwells on until it becomes unbearable. After receiving some sympathetic assistance and reassurance from his doctor (Madhur Jaffrey) as well as some practical advice from his masseur, he slowly becomes convinced that rehabilitation is not a total impossibility. The masseur, among other things, points out that "red hot phone sex" is an eventual outlet to be positively explored alongside increasing speech improvement. Nevertheless, the shame his masculinity feels keeps him confined to quarters until he decides to approach his "undesirable" neighbor for assistance with song lessons and finally begins the rehabilitation of his speech. This is a place in the city where America's least-wanted mingle with New York's finest, where the disillusioned meet the disgusted, and where dissin' finally forces out a primal scream; a place where all things can happen. Where one can say, "I'm a singer. I'm a female impersonator. I'm an artist" as well as saying, "I'm not an artist. I'm not a female impersonator. I'm ugly and I'm a drag queen. And I'm ugly." And, finally, a place where sympathies can give a crippled tango partner hope that he might one-day dance again. De Niro gives the sublime kind of performance everyone has become accustomed to. He spent time at the Rusk Institute of NYU Medical Center observing stroke victims in order to research this role. Several mouthpieces were made for him to create the paralyzed face at different stages. Director Shumacher explains that "he designed a lead shoe and certain weights for his arm which are painful to wear, but which helped him with the accuracy of the stroke." Hoffman, who as already proven his abilities in such notable films as "Boogie Nights" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" reaches superstardom with his role in this movie. Always perfection in his portrayals, he manages to give the outrageous Rusty a sensitive and subtle interpretation. (Go for it!) He did his research at the drag clubs of New York, assisted by some of the actual drag queens seen in the movie. Writer/director Joel Schumacher has found an absolutely appropriate niche for his talents with this movie. His sometimes hyperactive and overproduced vehicles are tapered this time around into a fascinating story with explosive intensity and captivating characters. Once he came up with the idea for this story, he kept notes during a four year period that he shaped into a script over a three week period and the final result has the strength we have seen in earlier films like "Falling Down", "Dying Young", and "The Client."
Production designer Jan Roelfs, a native of Amsterdam, has masterfully recreated the atmosphere of the dingier and dirtier side of New York City. Long known for his fantastic creations in the world of filmmaking, it is equally exciting to see his work encompassing the grittier world as well. Much of the interior shooting was done on sets (which could easily be confused for the real thing) because of the amount of time it would have cost otherwise to shoot in a real location. Roelfs succeeds in making us feel like we're really there. "Start shoutin'the news." Believe it or not, this is an uproarious comedy (with, as you can well understand, some obviously heavy notes underscoring it).
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