Review of The People vs. Larry Flynt

I found it an equally disturbing and brilliant picture. The main characters are brought to life painfully well by Woody Harrelson and Courtney Love. The madness, the drug addiction, their compulsions and progressing degradation are hard to watch because the actors display it so vividly and charismatically. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen, it was hypnotizing, like a slow-motion car crash with many parts involved. Reading about the reality that inspired the movie afterwards I found out the modicum of lucidity and respectability present in the film was pretty much added to create a stronger bond with the characters. The court scenes are used as a decorum to illustrate the state of the characters though, more than making Flynt a free speech hero I'd say, for me this movie was more a picture of human decay than a piece of law history, like I've read people expected it to be. In any case for me it was a fascinating, whilst admittedly emotionally draining, watch that I don't regret a minute of.