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Movies / On DVD / The People Vs. Larry Flynt
The People Vs. Larry Flynt

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The People Vs. Larry Flynt (1996)

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Reviews Counted:53

Fresh:46

Rotten:7

Average Rating:7.7/10

Runtime: 2 hrs 10 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: In THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT, Milos Forman expertly directs the viewer's sympathy toward Larry Flynt (Woody Harrelson in a superb performance): smut peddler, misogynist, and Editor in Chief of the... In THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT, Milos Forman expertly directs the viewer's sympathy toward Larry Flynt (Woody Harrelson in a superb performance): smut peddler, misogynist, and Editor in Chief of the infamous Hustler magazine. Born in the back woods of Appalachia, the young Flynt--in an opening scene that immediately grabs and amuses--is seen selling moonshine as a child to alcoholic hermits. Flash forward to the 1960s, and he's running a go-go club where he meets the wild (and strangely loveable) Althea Leasure (Courtney Love) who becomes his soul mate and wife. Life is not as sweet as it first seems for the porn king who finds a massive readership for his magazine (the first to show crotch shots). He soon finds himself in the middle of several Supreme Court law suits, and also as an assassin's target. While Flynt's various outrageous meetings with self-righteous Reverend Jerry Falwell (Richard Paul) and devout Christian Ruth Carter Stapleton (President Jimmy Carter's sister, played by Rudolph Giuliani's ex-wife Donna Hanover) are hilarious and smartly pointed, it is perhaps the touching, and ultimately tragic, love story between him and Althea that make him very human, and very interesting to watch. [More]

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Edward Norton, Miles Chapin

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Edward Norton, Miles Chapin, Vincent Schiavelli, Donna Hanover, Crispin Glover, James Cromwell, Richard Paul, Brett Harrelson, James Carville

Director: Milos Forman

Director: Milos Forman
Screenwriter: Larry Karaszewski, Scott Alexander
Producer: Oliver Stone, Janet Yang, Michael Hausman
Composer: Thomas Newman

[See More Credits]

Reviews for The People Vs. Larry Flynt

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
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The exploitative misogyny of Flynt's output is never examined, the prurient hypocrisy and intolerance of his persecutors seriously overplayed, plus Larry and Althea's odd romance lacks bittersweet conviction.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

While Harrelson and Love deliver convincing performances, in the end this is a distended account of a revolting couple which dodges the issue.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment 3 Comments
05/20/03
Leonard Schwarz
Leonard Schwarz
Palo Alto Weekly
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
01/01/00
Boston Phoenix

Long after you've grown tired of his escapades, the scenes in which he and Althea support one another against the slings an arrows of outrageous fortune are touching and, ultimately, genuinely tragic.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
06/30/08
TV Guide's Movie Guide
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
10/18/08
Washington Post

By the end, I was ready to buy a flag.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Andrew Wright
Andrew Wright
rec.arts.movies.reviews

Boyish and straightforward, Norton's lawyer seems the last person who would be attracted to Flynt's dramatic style. But he's perfect because he's just like us: appalled, dazzled and utterly entertained.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
01/01/00
Barbara Shulgasser
Barbara Shulgasser
San Francisco Examiner

This film leaves the viewer struggling with a variety of moral questions, and that's probably a good thing.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
01/01/00
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

It's a whitewash. But what a charming whitewash, and for what a good cause.

Full Review Source: Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus

The People vs. Larry Flynt is ultimately a worse disappointment than an out-and-out stinker would be, because of its lively, entertaining first half.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor
Salon.com

I sincerely hope The People Versus Larry Flynt goes all the way and wins the Academy Award.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Chris Gore
Chris Gore
Film Threat

If, as Flynt protests, he's really only guilty of bad taste, perhaps Forman is, as well.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
01/01/00
Chris Hicks
Chris Hicks
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

The biggest surprise is a five-star performance by Harrelson. After a series of movies like Indecent Proposal and Money Train, who knew there was an actor under there?

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

A substantive, specific and occasionally rowdy commentary on U.S. culture.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia City Paper | comment Comment
01/01/00
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
Philadelphia City Paper

A brave, spectacularly entertaining -- and unexpectedly stirring -- account of Flynt's life that asks us to regard the publisher of Hustler magazine as an invaluable champion of our First Amendment freedoms.

Full Review Source: Newsweek | comment Comment
06/30/08
David Ansen
David Ansen
Newsweek

We're really celebrating Hollywood's freedom to create biographies of anyone, no matter how high or low on the social ladder, and still come up with the same banal characteristics, messages and conclusions.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
06/30/08
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post

Very entertaining.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
05/05/03
Dragan Antulov
Dragan Antulov
rec.arts.movies.reviews

The story may be candy-coated, but it's still delicious candy.

Full Review Source: NUVO Newsweekly | comment Comment
01/01/00
Edward Johnson-Ott
Edward Johnson-Ott
NUVO Newsweekly

I dug it.

Full Review Source: Blunt Review | comment Comment
05/30/03
Emily Blunt
Emily Blunt
Blunt Review
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
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