# People vs. Larry Flynt, The (1996)

### reviewed by
Andy Wright

    THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT

Traditionally, the big-budget bio-pic has generally been reserved for historical figures of great nobility or significance (Mozart, Malcolm X, Gandhi, Oscar Schindler, etc.), so it's somewhat jarring at first to see unredeemed '70s smut-meister Larry Flynt get the same treatment. The fact that it turned out to be one of the best pictures of 1996 is equally surprising, until you realize the amount of talent involved. As his previous films ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST and AMADEUS have shown, director Miles Forman has a knack for humanizing even the most potentially unredeemable characters, of which this film gives you a wide assortment. (The scriptwriters, Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewksi, seem to be making a career out of stories about the historically unsavory; they also wrote ED WOOD, and are presently working on a screenplay about the late, great, and totally freakin' nuts comedian Andy Kaufman.)

The cast is up for the challenge as well. In the lead role, Woody Harrelson does a wonderful job playing a man whose very outrageousness and outward loathsomeness make him strangely appealing: his best scenes occur late in the film, after Flynt has been paralyzed from the waist down and starts taking his war against censorship to a new level in the courts. Courtney Love, no stranger to controversy in her own life, gives a jawdroppingly good performance as Althea, Flynt's drug addicted, ex-stripper wife; the role might not be much of a stretch for her, but the amount of feeling she invests into it is amazing. The standout, though, is Edward Norton as Flynt's long suffering lawyer. After only two movies (PRIMAL FEAR and this one) he's already at the top of his field. His wonderfully naturalistic final summation in front of the Supreme Court is the best scene in the film.

This movie isn't perfect; there are a few too many times when the heavy-handed moralizing of Executive Producer Oliver Stone can be caught peeking out from behind the curtain, but what it accomplishes is remarkable. I never thought that a movie about pornography could make you feel proud to be an American, but this one somehow does: by the end, I was ready to buy a flag.

Copyright 1997 The Critic Formerly known as Andrew Wright For more Reviews check out http://www.seanet.com/~louk/ email louk@seanet.com

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