THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT

 

The People vs. Larry Flynt is the controversial biopic about controversial Hustler publisher Larry Flynt. The movie was directed by celebrated movie director Milos Forman (who also directed the classic film One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest) and produced by Oliver Stone (yes, THAT Oliver Stone!). Woody Harrelson (of Cheers fame) plays Larry Flynt and Courtney Love (yes, THAT Courtney Love!) plays Flynt's doomed drug-addicted bisexual wife Althea. The movie depicts Flynt's career as a self-proclaimed smut peddler and his various trials and tribulations, including the assassination attempt that left him not only confined to a wheelchair but also hooked on paid meds for a time until he undergoes surgery that leaves him no longer needing paid medication. A decent chunk of the film also focuses on Larry's sometimes tumultuous relationship with wife Althea--who also helped him run his company--who contracted AIDS due to her own drug addiction. (Althea, as depicted in the film, drowned in the bathtub.) The movie also focuses on Flynt's numerous "obscenity" trials such as his by-now-infamous trial in Cincinnati that led to his incarceration (which features none other than Larry himself in a cameo as the judge who seems to have it in for Larry, or, rather, the cinematic version thereof) and the one where he showed up to court dressed in a diaper. Of course, the trial that he's most noted for--and the one he seemingly keeps bringing up every chance he gets!--is the one where the late televangelist Jerry Falwell actually sued him for "libel" after Flynt published a "parody" ad in Hustler featuring Jerry "discussing" his first time having sex in an outhouse with his very own mother. After initially losing that trial (and ordered to pay a couple thousand bucks in "damages" to Falwell), Flynt takes the case all the way to the Supreme Court and--of course!--wins, thus insuring Jon Stewart and a whole slew of other A-Holes, uh, I mean, commentators work for years to, er, come! Anyway, one small complaint I do have about this film is that it does at times try to have it both ways in that it simultaneously tries to prop Larry Flynt up as a free-speech hero, which was one of the numerous criticisms lobbied against it from the usual suspects (right-wingers, "radical" feminists, etc., etc.), while at the same time portraying him as a "scumbag" as Harrelson's Flynt describes himself to reporters in one scene. However, love him or hate him, one CAN'T deny that Larry Flynt has lived some type of life and is most definitely one unique character as this film clearly depicts! Oh yeah, this film also stars Edward Norton as Flynt's rather insufferable lawyer Alan Isaccman and Harrelson's own brother Brett as Larry's real-life brother Jimmy. This movie, in spite of its controversy, was also nominated for--and even won--a slew of awards, including one or two Oscars. Not bad for a self-proclaimed smut peddler/scumbag!