FLUXEUROPA: PEOPLE VS LARRY FLYNT

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PEOPLE VS LARRY FLYNT (1996)

Dir: Milos Forman

Written: Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski

Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Edward Norton, Brett Harrelson, Donna Hanover Giuliani, James Cromwell, Crispin Glover, Vincent Sciavelli, James Carville, Richard Paul, Larry Flynt.

I had high hopes for this much-heralded film. It represented a return to cinema for Milos Forman. Oliver Stone had a hand in the production. And for Woody Harrelson, who was stunning in Natural Born Killers, Larry Flynt appeared to mark a further step on his road to recognition as a first-rate actor.

The subject of freedom of speech evokes in me a visceral response. It is an emotional as well as an intellectual issue. I was, therefore, somewhat disappointed in the film's sense of detachment, from both the issue and its characters.

The film opens with the young Flynt brothers (Cody Block and Ryan Post) selling moonshine to make an honest buck. We are predisposed from that moment on to view Larry in particular as a lovable rogue, pushing the limits perhaps, but simply trying to get by.

And so we follow the Flynt saga as it chronicles the genesis of Hustler, the free speech battles and the fight with a smug and well-scrubbed Jerry Falwell (Richard Paul). All interesting stuff in its own way, particularly Flynt's courtroom antics and his relationship with Althea Leasure (Courtney Love).

The historical inaccuracies of the film have been chronicled extensively. But this work does not pretend to be a documentary. I found it ironic then, that the episodic nature of the direction made it feel like a documentary to me - a little distant and objective. I found the film to lack passion.

I'm sure that Larry Flynt in person was a monster - not the kind of person you would really want to know too well, prone to violent outbursts of temper, foul-mouthed and crude.

Flynt started Hustler in reaction to the air-brushed perfection of Playboy's centerfolds and the pseudo-sophistication of its editorial content. The People vs Larry Flynt seems to airbrush Flynt himself, imbuing him with a nobility of purpose which rang false for me.

Having said that, the cinematography is superb. A number of individual images are breathtakingly beautiful. And Courtney Love is compelling to watch. She is a truly fine actor. James Carville appears playing against type as Simon Leis, while Charles Keating is played suitably hypocritically by James Cromwell. My companion found the soundtrack to be somewhat intrusive. I'm inclined to agree.

There's a movie in the life of Larry Flynt. But I don't believe this is it. Perhaps it needs someone younger and less sophisticated to chronicle Flynt during those tempestuous times. Someone like Larry, in fact...

JOHN BLOWER - 4 February 1997. Posted 13 February 1997.