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Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal review
:. Director: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato
:. Genre: Documentary
:. Running Time: 1:09
:. Year: 2008
:. Country: USA
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A documentary from the makers of Party Monster and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal follows the infamous Hollywood Madam as she tries to open a "stud-farm" in a Nevada hole.
With only her savings and the help of someone homeless-turned-assistant, Miss Fleiss embarks on an adventure that sees her confront hostile locals and angry competitors.
One of the most amusing elements of this film is to realize that, despite being a world based on women, the brothel business isn't quite ready to accept them on the other side of the desk in management positions. We get to meet 80 year old white trash pimps who tell us they don't want her bad publicity around town but it is clear that they're afraid of her potential success and don't want to accept her in their exclusive pimp club because she's a woman.
The only other discovery here is that Miss Fleiss clearly appears to be a sensible person, and other aspects of her personality, such as being street-wise, funny and pretentious match what you would expect from somebody who once ruled Hollywood's pants.
Besides this, there isn't much to take from this documentary, which should have been more appropriately called "hanging out with Heidi Fleiss" as her journey doesn't go anywhere — if you read the news you know she still hasn't opened her brothel and the fact that she ended her relationship with the filmmakers results in an aimless project; Mr. Bailey and Mr. Barbato are clearly trying to make us swallow their repackaged footage as a full flesh documentary.
Those who expect to satisfy their voyeuristic impulse will also be disappointed as the only action you will see is when Miss Fleiss kisses a parrot she inherited from her late neighbor (a Nevada Madam from the Sinatra era); and you won't be lucky seeing her working on her brothel since it, this time, features men as providers of services for women. Personally, I also believe that you can't make a fun film about the Hollywood Madam without mentioning the name Charlie Sheen at least once — but maybe that's just me.
There have already been several documentaries and TV movies about Miss Fleiss but most of them are destined to fail, mostly because she is such an out-of-the-ordinary character: it is too early to be able to capture the portrait of somebody who still has decades ahead for more ups and downs, shaping a life that will be then worth a great biopic.
Fred Thom
 Documentary Reviews: 1998 - 2011
Documentary Reviews: 2012 - present
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