the fresh films reviews

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The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)

Director:
Milos Forman
COUNTRY
USA
GENRE
Drama/Comedy
NORWEGIAN TITLE
Larry Flynt - skandalenes mann
RUNNING TIME
129 minutes
Producers:
Oliver Stone
Janet Yang
Screenwriters:
Scott Alexander
Larry Karaszewski


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Larry Flynt Woody Harrelson
Althea Leasure Courtney Love
Alan Isaacman Edward Norton
Jerry Falwell Richard Paul
Charles Keating James Cromwell
Ruth Carter Stapleton Donna Hanover
Arlo Crispin Glover
Chester Vincent Schiavelli
Jimmy Flynt Brett Harrelson

 

Review

In the midst of the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s, Larry Flynt, the creator of Hustler magazine, was the less narcissistic and more humorous version of Hugh Hefner. In this film from 1996, master director Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) mixes the biopic ingredients shrewdly and delivers a perfectly structured, remarkably well-written and brilliantly acted account of Larry Flynt's life and times. Woody Harrelson plays the title-role with a blazing display of bravura. He is equally adept in the dramatically heavier parts as he is at delivering Flynt's at times deadpan sarcasm and outrageous antics. And opposite Harrelson, as Flynt's free-thinking girlfriend and later wife, Courtney Love gives a frighteningly authentic performance. Their unorthodox but still loyal relationship is the hub of the story, and it glows with all its peculiarities as the two take on the entire world armed with the principles they believe in. One of the best, and undoubtedly funniest, biopics of the decade (in strong competition with Forman's follow-up three years later, Man on the Moon).

Re-reviewed: Copyright © 21.12.2017 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang
Original review: Copyright © 25.3.1997 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang