Flawless

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Following fast in the footsteps of "Mad Money" and "The Bank Job," "Flawless" (Magnolia) -- set in 1960 London -- turns out to be the most stylish heist film of the three.

Laura Quinn (Demi Moore) is the only woman executive in the male-dominated London Diamond Corporation (Lon Di), but she is repeatedly passed over for promotion. Soon-to-be-retired night cleaning man Hobbs (Michael Caine), whom she only knows slightly from his nightly rounds, informs her he's learned she will soon be dismissed from her position.

He drops this bombshell at a local cinema where he's persuaded her to meet him unobserved.

With trembling trepidation, Laura agrees to go along with the scheme: She will purloin the current combination for the vault from the desk of corporation chairman Milton Ashtoncroft (Joss Ackland) when she attends a company function at his home. Hobbs will subsequently enter the vault thanks to a known flaw in the company's new security-camera system.

He'll take just about enough diamonds to fill a small thermos, which will keep both of them in clover for the rest of their lives. What follows, however, turns out to be considerably different from the stated plan.

Michael Radford, who directed the underrated film of "The Merchant of Venice" with Al Pacino, captures the milieu of the corporation and the era well. (Surprisingly, the film was shot mainly in Luxembourg.) His camera setups are consistently elegant and he's able to build taut suspense while eschewing overt violence.

If first-time script writer Edward Anderson's denouement feels a bit formulaic, the buildup has been masterful.

Moore, rather like Honor Blackman with a Jackie Kennedy hairdo, has one of her best roles as an Oxford-educated American (allowing her a sort of mid-Atlantic British accent), her inner skittishness about Hobbs' plan evident at every moment. In the film's opening scenes, she's made up as an old woman in the present day, recounting the details of the heist to a young reporter.

Caine makes his won't-take-no-for-an-answer character, with his own reasons for revenge against Lon Di, effortlessly convincing, while Lambert Wilson as Detective Finch who's assigned to investigate the robbery and of course falls for Laura's charm, makes a potent adversary.

Objectionable elements -- apart from some language and the robbery itself, which, in any case, has a reasonably moral resolution that we won't spoil -- are practically nil.

The film contains brief profanity, a single use of the f-word and some crass language; it's acceptable for older teens. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops