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People vs. Larry Flynt, The

EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Entertainment / Columbia Pictures

People vs. Larry Flynt, The reviews
79
8.3 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 24 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 9 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Scott Alexander
Larry Karaszewski

Directed by: Milos Forman

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 25, 1996
DVD: May 6, 2003

Running Time: 129 minutes, Color

Origin: Canada / USA

Summary

RATING: R for strong sexual material, nudity, language and drug use

Starring Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Edward Norton, Brett Harrelson, Donna Hanover, James Cromwell, Crispin Glover, and Vincent Schiavelli

Woody Harrelson stars as publishing maverick Larry Flynt, who becomes the unlikely champion of the First Amendment when he takes his fight against the Rev. Jerry Falwell all the way to the Supreme Court. (Sony Pictures Entertainment)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Love proves she is not a rock star pretending to act, but a true actress, and Harrelson matches her with his portrait of a man who has one thing on his mind, and never changes it.

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100

Film.com John Hartl

Raucously entertaining.

100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The film catches us by surprise in its moving portrayal of the love between Larry and Althea, played by Courtney Love in a performance that glides from kinky abandon to stark tragedy.

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100

USA Today Mike Clark

Forman finesses the story's grimmer aspects as he did in "Cuckoo's Nest," and his ability to switch moods on a dime remains unsurpassed.

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100

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Enormously entertaining and surprisingly touching.

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100

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

A blazing, unlikely triumph about a man who is nobody's idea of a movie hero. Smart, funny, shamelessly entertaining and perfectly serious too.

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100

Newsweek David Ansen

Courtney Love's performance as stripper Althea Leasure is an amazement. Funny, unfettered and almost scarily alive in front of a camera, she's the definition of a "natural."

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100

Film.com Robert Horton

Forman imbues the material with exactly the right dry, satirical flavor, yet this story is still a Frank Capra little-guy-against-the-system picture.

90

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Provocative and engrossing.

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90

Variety Todd McCarthy

Vastly entertaining.

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90

Film.com Sean Means

Althea is a ferociously vibrant character, and Love goes all out to infuse her with a wildness seldom seen on screen. Love holds nothing back, and her energy and her heartache energize the movie.

88

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

There's a gentleness and open-mindedness in that touch and throughout the film that's a little at odds with the shallower script. But, in the end, that humanity pays. [27 Dec 1996]

88

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Tells a good, intelligent story that keeps us interested and involved.

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88

San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser

With its fine courtroom scenes, excellent performances, great writing and superb direction it reminds me more than anything else of Barbet Schroeder's "Reversal of Fortune."

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80

Film Threat Chris Gore

I loved it. I'm glad it was made...Film Threat's association with Flynt would sometimes bring gasps of outrage or phones slammed down in disgust. Now, it brings curiosity and even admiration. Kinda weird, huh?

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

With "Flynt," Love does what Madonna has been trying to do for 12 years -- create a performance filled with humor, intelligence and soul.

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75

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The result is good dirty fun, flecked with enough wit to help you overlook the relatively barren characterization.

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75

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Milos Forman's drama is full of outrageous material that will offend liberals and conservatives alike, but it's positioned on the cutting edge of contemporary debates about free speech, feminism, and the effects of mass media on modern society.

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70

TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)

But long after you've grown tired of [Flynt's] 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.

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70

Time Richard Corliss

Jogs from one incident to the next, amassing information and dispensing attitude but rarely creating real characters. That's supposed to be director Milos Forman's forte; here, though, nearly everyone is an enemy or a stooge.

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70

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski's script may in spots be as much of a skim job as their one for "Ed Wood," but it's almost as sweet and as likable, and if the movie can't ever practice what it and its hillbilly hero preach--the only "beaver" shot in the movie involves a corpse--its heart is certainly in the right place.

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40

Salon.com Charles Taylor

"Larry Flynt" should have a slick, whorish look, but there's no juice in Forman's sleaze. Hustler's centerfolds look like Renoirs next to the cold-eyed way Forman shoots women's bodies.

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30

Washington Post Desson Thomson

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. In this sense, The People vs. Larry Flynt doesn't champion, so much as squander, freedom of speech.

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30

Film.com Tom Keogh

In all, this film is a major disappointment with a few powerful highlights.

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Evan W. gave it an8:
Flynt is, ironically, moralistic. He stands up for what he believes in and doesn't back down.

Pat C. gave it a9:
A precise solidly crafted movie in full control of its volatile actors, story line and editing. Not quite uplifting, but still reassuring, not to mention both cerebral and provocative.

angie gave it a10:
This movie was absolutely wonderful. Made a very valid point.

mayank s. gave it a10:
Movie of our times.. sad, dark, and yet an expression so strong.

Ryan M. gave it a 10:
One of the greatest, most unflinchingly sad, but real biopics I've ever seen.

Gilbert gave it an 8:
Oh, come on. You call it a "pandering glorification of political correctness", then call it "evidence of our moral bankruptcy". Which are two different things. Face it, "Flynt" is not a leftie liberal pinko etc conspiracy to usurp you from your throne as arbiter of the Western World's morals. It's just a great movie. Like all the other ones Milos Forman made.

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