(EW.com) -- No one wants a Liberace biopic to be subtle. You want the director to don a puffy-sleeved man-blouse and spell out the drama in rhinestones. You want the camera to linger on the peacock-feathered pianos, the velveteen ''royal throne'' toilets, and, of course, that white fox-fur coat — the only coat in the world with its own chauffeur. And you'll get all of that in Steven Soderbergh's "Behind the Candelabra," which casts Michael Douglas as the Vegas legend and Matt Damon as his much younger lover Scott Thorson, whose memoir of their tumultuous five-year relationship inspired the film.
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Michael Douglas plays Liberace and Matt Damon Scott Thorson in "Behind the Candelabra"
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Thorson's memoir of their five year relationship inspired the film
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Steven Soderbergh directs
Liberace
Liberace
Despite the stranger details of their courtship — say, the fact that @placeholder had Thorson undergo plastic surgery to look more like him, or that he offered to adopt his young paramour — their love feels as banal as any married couple's, right up until the end, when Thorson sues Liberace for palimony.
Scott Thorson
Scott Thorson
Thorson
Despite the stranger details of their courtship — say, the fact that Liberace had @placeholder undergo plastic surgery to look more like him, or that he offered to adopt his young paramour — their love feels as banal as any married couple's, right up until the end, when Thorson sues Liberace for palimony.
Scott Thorson
Scott Thorson
Thorson
Despite the stranger details of their courtship — say, the fact that Liberace had Thorson undergo plastic surgery to look more like him, or that he offered to adopt his young paramour — their love feels as banal as any married couple's, right up until the end, when @placeholder sues Liberace for palimony.
Liberace
Liberace
The more secretive parts of @placeholder's world, like his obsession with sex clubs and porn, come across as quirky rather than dark.
Matt Damon
Matt Damon
And @placeholder, who captures Thorson's damaged-child side well, makes him a little too sympathetic.
Scott Thorson
Scott Thorson
Thorson
And Damon, who captures @placeholder's damaged-child side well, makes him a little too sympathetic.
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh
It's interesting that @placeholder couldn't get "Candelabra" made as a feature film; he says it's because studios feared it was ''too gay.''
Liberace
Liberace
Those ladies might've been comforted by @placeholder's final words in the movie: ''Too much of a good thing is wonderful,'' he says.