It’s not on TV, either. It’s on HBO.
The movie is Behind the Candelabra, the story of the rocky 6-year relationship between Liberace and his young lover, Scott Thorson.
Michael Douglas is incredible as the caped crusader, as is Matt Damon playing his prudish (by Liberace’s standards) boyfriend. Steven Soderbergh directed this perfect jeweled biopic, and he says the movie may be his last. Let’s hope not, the guy is a gifted filmmaker.
The story is your typical boy meets boy tale, boy gets boy, boy gets bored by boy, boy finds new boy and chucks old boy to the side and then that boy tries suing his old boy into oblivion. I’ll say no more.
It’s a fascinating account of Liberace, a talented performer who was Mr. show business but lived sequestered in the closet and struggled to be who he was. It’s a tragic tale with memorable performances by Dan Aykroyd as Liberace’s agent and fixer, Scott Bakula as a hanger-on with the drugs, Rob Lowe as the creepy plastic surgeon who was also Dr. feelgood and sweet Debbie Reynolds as the piano player’s overbearing mother.
Check this film out and see some performances for the ages. It’s further proof that sometimes the best movies are simple human stories without a billion dollars of special effects.