Yo! Did you watch HBO's Behind the Candelabra last night—the Liberace biopic directed by Steven Soderbergh starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon? (Yes, I do realize there was a poop ton of Arrested Development... but you've got the rest of your life to watch that!) Let's do a quick chitty-chat about it after the jump, and then go back to bed. Whaddaya say?
Real quick-like!
1) Liberace, of course, was one of the biggest personalities on TV and in Vegas—so the low-key tone of this production was pretty surprising. At least one of the reviewers who watched this said (perhaps rightly) that this was intentional—instead of amping up all the gaudy aspects of Liberace's life (and gayness), Behind the Candelabra played more like a domestic drama, and was much more realistic because of it.
2) But I'm not sure that level of realism is what I wanted. If I wanted to watch a domestic drama, I'd replay those Humphrey Christmas betamax tapes from the '80s. While I appreciate that it wasn't FLAAAAAAAMING, we are talking about Liberace here—and in Candelabra, he kind of came off as... boring? Watch some of his old stage performances, and he practically sparkled off the stage. Michael Douglas' rendition of him may have been what some consider to be "true"... but it was also pretty flat. (There's a reason it's called "drama.")
3) Then there's the whole "straight guys portraying gay guys" thing. But it's Memorial Day, and I just remembered I don't want to spend one of my few off days unpacking that.
4) Of course, the character everyone is talking about is Rob Lowe's plastic surgeon character (Dr. Startz) who was the nuttiest, most over-the-top character in the entire production. His character didn't quite fit... but I was soooo happy he was there. Here's Rob Lowe talking about the "painful process" of playing that character. I DO NOT DOUBT IT!
5) Okay, back to bed for me. Did you watch it? What did you think?