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Leave it to Czech director Milos Forman (
One Flew Over to Cuckoo's Nest) to make the most entertaining and offbeat celebration of the American Constitution that the movies have ever given us. You think the First Amendment was designed to protect you
from offensive speech? Think again. The real glory of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights--as brought to life in this splendidly quirky and alternately reverent and irreverent comedy--is that it ensures everyone's freedom by protecting a whole range of expression, from the banal to the outrageous. Scripted by the writers of
Ed Wood (another affectionately twisted biography of a disreputably eccentric entertainment figure),
The People vs. Larry Flynt applies a similar sort of exaggerated and telescoped editorial-cartoon sensibility to the wild life and times of
Hustler skin-magazine publisher Larry Flynt. It's the great (and fictionalized-but-true) American story of how smut-peddler Flynt--the poor man's redneck Hugh Hefner--ended up appealing a libel case (brought by televangelist Jerry Falwell) to the Supreme Court and winning a major legal victory that affects us all. Terrific performances by Woody Harrelson as Flynt, grunge-star-turned-glamour-puss Courtney Love as his wife Althea, and Edward Norton as their lawyer (a composite character).
--Jim Emerson
Product Description
Acclaimed drama based on the controversial life of Larry Flynt. Nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Actor in a Leading Role - Woody Harrelson, Best Director - Milos Forman) and won two 1997 Golden Globes (Best Director - Motion Picture, Milos Forman; Best Screenplay - Motion Picture). Commentaries with Milos Forman and writer Larry Karaszewski, and with Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love and Ed Norton.
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