Oh, haven’t we all done things we regret? But poor Scott Thorsen – he gives up his job, his loving family, his health and his face (yes, his face) for that vile carapace of ego and guile, Walter Liberace. Soderbergh’s movie of the abusive, controlling and utterly dyspeptic relationship between between the two of them is actually quite brilliant – uncomfortable, cringe-worthy, repulsive, camp-as-christmas – and Scott’s downward spiral as he battles to keep a relationship he doesn’t know if he really wants is quite tragic.
Matt Damon as Scott is great, and Michael Douglas as Liberace himself is so good, so revolting, so abhorrent, so compellingly self absorbed you almost forget there’s an actor behind all that wig and rhinestone. Stand out too: Rob Lowe as a dodgy plastic surgeon with a face like Michael Jackson. It’s all a bit bizarre, but like a car crash, it’s impossible to take your eyes off.