People versus WHO? (FILM ONLY REVIEW) (The People Vs Larry Flint (DVD))

Member Name: anonymili

Product:	The People Vs Larry Flint (DVD)
Date:	31/10/06 (332 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free speech and all that

Disadvantages: It's really quite boring when all is said and done

People vs Larry Flint was released in 1996 and starred Woody Harrelson as Larry Flynt and Courtney Love as his girlfriend then wife Althea. It's certified 18 and runs for 189 minutes. The film was directed by Milos Forman and written by Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski.



STORY/BACKGROUND

People vs Larry Flint is a seedy film from start to finish. Who, you might ask as I did (or then again, you might not), is Larry Flynt? Well, he was the founder of Hustler magazine in the USA, which for the uneducated is an alternative to Playboy or Penthouse (which for the really REALLY uneducated - are men's magazines mostly featuring nude women).

Larry Flynt is shown growing up in Kentucky selling his father's home made moonshine to earn extra money for their severely poor family, he grows up to run a strip club in Cincinnati. Whilst running this club he meets Althea, a stripper who he falls madly in love with and gets the bright idea of doing a promotional magazine to boost the club's income.

Hustler starts off as a low budget publication but then makes it big when pictures of Jackie Onassis sunbathing in the nude are published. The magazines popularity rockets but also gains the attention of a group called Citizens For Decent Literature whose leader, Jerry Falwell, starts the first of many legal actions against Larry Flynt. Legal battles are fought in the Supreme Court as Flynt's lawyer (played by Edward Norton) argues the finer points of nudity and bad taste with top judges. Hustler popularity continutes to grow and Flynt is shot by a sniper and loses the use of his legs, now immobilised to a wheelchair. Then the love of his life gets AIDS and dies. More court cases follow…


ACTING/ANALYSIS

Woody Harrelson surprised me in this role, it's not the sort of part one would imagine him in, but he was most convincing, almost too much so. Courtney Love continues to prove that she really cannot act, but can bare lots of flesh, and Ed Norton was top notch as Flynt's enigmatic lawyer.

I'm not sure if the film was trying to raise issues about whether or not magazines like Hustler, Playboy, etc, should be classed as pornography or people's right to "free speech" or erm "free viewing of nude women"… But I wasn't convinced either way. The film may been have popular on its release, but personally, I found it over the top, somewhat boring and even slightly repetitive! Some of the courtroom scenes dragged on for me and I felt like pressing fast forward to get through it all! There was a subplot in there somewhere about Flynt having a recording of the FBI supplying someone with cocaine and Flynt having to enter an institution for a while, but it didn't seem to flow with the rest of the movie. Falwell sues Flynt for saying that he lost his virginity to his mother and Flynt countersues him right back for copyright infringement!?!

Flynt was actually married five times and Althea was his forth wife - the film seemed to indicate that he only had one wife which was a bit strange. I know they have to make these films entertaining and play with the truth somewhat but if you read about this guy's life and then watch the film (or even vice versa) you wonder why so much was missed out of the film, or why a film which, in effect, is supposed to be a biography, is so untrue to itself. Not that I particularly wanted to read up about him, I was just curious as to what reports said about this guy who's portrayed as really sleazy but the film almost makes a hero of him! I don't know if you're supposed to leave this film feeling sorry for Flynt or hating his guts. Personally, I couldn't care less about what happened to him, he's portrayed as a real lowlife kind of guy and apparently, he's even worse in real life!


WHERE TO GET IT...

You can but this on DVD from www.lovemyposters.com for just under £10, or from www.cdzone.co.uk for £20.39 (why pay THAT much?). You can get it from amazon.com (but couldn't find it on amazon.co.uk) and I'm sure you can pick up a really cheap copy from ebay too. Or you can wait till it's shown on TV again...


SOME TRIVIA:

The real life Larry Flynt appears in the film briefly as a judge (that is definitely not "art reflecting real life"!

Woody Harrelson's real brother Brett plays Flynt's brother in the film.


OVERALL?

It's definitely not a film for younger viewers as it has lots of bad language, drug abuse and some nudity. If you enjoy watching documentary style films about notorious people then you may well enjoy this. Personally I'd rate it 4 out of 10, only due to the great acting skills of the talented Woody Harrelson and the very cute and able Ed Norton.

Summary: Some might say it's educational but I would disagree...