Review of The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) by Gregory B — 21 Oct 2008

This is one of the best ensemble performances I have seen in a very long time, in fact the only bad performance in the movie was Larry Flynt himself playing a judge early on in the film. Woody Harrelson gives the best performance I have every seen him give though I am by no means an expert on him.

And can you believe that Courtney Love gave a good performance? That just goes to show that director Milos Forman is a true genius at directing actors. My only issue with the film is the story. I think it depended too much on his marriage and not enough on his relationship with other people such as his brother and his first trial with Senator Keating was extremely underwritten.

And also some of the symbols that Forman gives during his transitions (a bald eagle starting its flight symbolizing free speech) were really hit or miss and some of the epic opera music near the end was kind of an odd choice.

But this movie was laugh out loud funny at points and completely inappropriate throughout.