"The People vs. Larry Flynt" is one of the most impressive arguments for freedom of speech to ever come out of Hollywood. Director Milos Forman ("Man on the Moon") assembled an amazing cast for his controversial tale of the life of Larry Flynt (Woody Harrelson), the man behind "Hustler." Flynt himself is proud to admit that "Hustler" is the sleaziest mainstream magazine in American history. The film deftly argues for the freedom of speech, saying that you do not have to agree with or enjoy what Flynt promotes; however, if you do not allow it, are you prepared to give up your own right to say so?
The film opens with a scene from Flynt's childhood where he and his brother Jimmy are selling water to neighbors, clearly illustrating their natural business sense. With a quick flash ahead, the brothers are seen in their early days managing a strip club. Business being slow as usual, Flynt decides to try to advertise his club in a newsletter featuring only naked pictures of his girls. He learns to his dismay that he is not legally allowed to publish these pictures without including some sort of text with them, like in "Playboy." Flynt's slightly modified newsletter soon becomes the "Hustler" magazine, in which Flynt repeatedly pushes the limit of lawful pornography.
Back at his first strip club, Flynt meets Althea Leasure (Courtney Love), a very young bi-sexual stripper. When she informs him that he is not the only person who has slept with every girl in his club, Flynt becomes infatuated with her. Their extremely open relationship eventually leads to a marriage, which of course does not suggest monogamy. Althea remains Flynt's lifelong partner and even helps run his business whenever he finds himself in trouble with the law.
Flynt's outrageous exploits and powerful determination to push the bounds of free speech through his magazine constantly get him into trouble concerning questionable laws. To help him through his endless troubles, a young civil liberties lawyer, Alan Isaacman (Edward Norton), joins his team. Although Isaacman sometimes wonders why he gets himself involved in Flynt's exploits, he is reminded by the man's words, "I'm your dream client: I'm the most fun, I'm rich, and I'm always in trouble."
Larry Flynt is not only disliked by many people, he is flat out detested by millions. Many Christian groups and moral leaders have attacked him since his initial rise to fame. What Flynt tries to remind them however, is that he is fighting for free speech, not specifically for pornography. And if the right to free speech is ever done away with, then they would not even be allowed to attack him. Or perhaps people who did not agree with what they, themselves, were preaching would be able to sue them for it just as they have sued Flynt. It may be questionable logic, but it does make sense. To sum up his argument, Flynt proclaims, "If the First Amendment will protect a scumbag like me, it will protect all of you."
This extremely controversial film could have been ruined by poor performances, but all three of Forman's leads are perfects in there respective roles. Woody Harrelson ("Natural Born Killers," "Kingpin," "EdTV") shines as he convincingly portrays each of Flynt's unique stages of life, from his meager beginnings, to his rise to fame, to his paralyzation, to his drug episodes, to his remarkable recovery. Harrelson's unrelenting performance rightfully earned him a Best Actor Oscar nomination in 1997.
Courtney Love, lead singer and guitarist of the rock band Hole, makes perhaps the best transformation from musician to actress ever accomplished. Sadly though, her own impressive turns so far have only been in this film and another of Forman's films, "Man on the Moon." Edward Norton ("American History X," "Fight Club," "Primal Fear," "Rounders"), the greatest young actor in Hollywood today, turns in yet another superb performance as Flynt's fiery lawyer. Although he is perfect in the role, this is probably Norton's weakest performance to date - yes, he is that good!
"The People vs. Larry Flynt" is one of those rare films that succeeds as a true story, as a political statement, and as great entertainment. Forman tells his story with uncompromising detail and realism, so understandably, there is a lot of sexually explicit content. For those audiences with an open mind to its message, it is a story and a film not to be missed.
10 out of 10.
Rated R for nudity, language, and drug content
DVD Extras: Unfortunately, here we have a remarkable film with a pitiful DVD release. You are able to choose from the widescreen (2.35:1) and TV modified (1.33:1) formats, but other than that, there is not even a trailer included! Here is one DVD that begs to be remade with a special edition. I do not know who I'm arguing to now, but come on people, get with it!
DVDS. "If the First Amendment will protect a scumbag like me, then it'll protect all of you -- 'cause I'm the worst," declares {~Hustler Magazine} pub...More at DeepDiscount.com
This is the true story of Larry Flynt, the outrageous Hustler magazine publisher who was sued by the Religious Right and paralyzed by an assassin s bu...More at Buy.com
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