Flawless (1999)

Set in New York's Lower East Side, Robert De Niro plays Walt Koontz, an ultraconservative, retired security guard who suffers a stroke while trying to help a neighbour in trouble. He ends up with paralyzed vocal cords and in turn refuses to leave his apartment for therapy.

He then agrees to a rehabilitive program that includes receiving singing lessons from his neighbor Rusty (Phillip S. Hoffman) who not only dresses like a woman but is saving up for a sex-change operation. Both of them are equally prejudiced; Walt against gays and Rusty against close-minded straight people.