Review of Lovelace (2013) by Jim H — 12 Apr 2014

LOVELACE is a competently made, but confused biopic about Linda Lovelace, star of the porn film DEEP THROAT. Among the positives in the film are the attention to period detail and the performances which are fairly good, if not too spectacular.

For me, the real standouts were Peter Saarsgard as Chuck Traynor and Bobby Cannavale as some porn director/producer (can't remember the name). There was also a nearly unrecognizable Sharon Stone as Linda's mother Dorothy Boreman.

There's also plenty of other recognizable faces in the star-studded cast, although at a certain point it began to take me out of the movie, especially with James Franco as Hugh Hefner. Anyway, the meat of the story is focused on the production of DEEP THROAT and Linda's abusive relationship with her first husband, Chuck Traynor.

One thing I will say is that Peter Saarsgard does an incredible job playing a sleazeball and abusive creep. However, there were some misguided scenes later on where it looked like the filmmakers were attempting to give the audience something to sympathize with him over.

Another thing which was kind of odd was that about halfway through the movie, it almost resets and retells what came before, only with more emphasis on the domestic violence which was hinted at earlier.

The first half presents a mostly rosy portrait of the circumstances, while the second half removes the facade. I can understand why they did that, but it also messes with the pacing of the film, and if you really think about it the film doesn't cover that much material anyway so it almost feels padded, even with an anemic 90-minute run-time.

Generally, the filmmakers do a good job of making you care for Linda, but they also gloss over accusations that her account might not have been completely accurate. This film takes Linda's word at face value, only alluding to the surrounding controversy in two scenes, one recreated and the other taken from archive footage of the Donahue show.

And speaking of the final moments of the film, the visual effects team did an incredible job inserting Amanda Seyfried into an episode of Donahue, much like Forrest Gump was inserted into various historical footage.

Overall, I would say the film is ok, but don't look for something extremely revelatory or particularly graphic. The film's simplicity and straightforwardness is also its undoing as it lacks a lot of dramatic heft in what could have been a brilliant character study.

Serviceable, but flawed.