'Flynt' glosses over porn debate, truth

The People vs. Larry Flynt is a one-sided movie. It tells a true story the way it wants to. It bends the truth. Sometimes, it even outright lies.

That doesn't mean that it is not a good movie, though -- Hollywood movies are all about fantasy and fiction after all.

Milos Forman's The People vs. Larry Flynt examines the life of porn king Larry Flynt (played by Woody Harrelson), publisher of Hustler magazine and other adult magazines.

Far from a documentary, the film takes a liberal approach to the truth, glossing over the real issues involved in the pornography debate and instead, taking a simple pro-free-speech position. One of the most infamous events in Hustler history, for instance, was a cover that depicted a woman being pushed though a meat grinder.

The cover of course infuriated many people who deemed it the worst sort of exploitation and abuse. The cover, probably Flynt's single most questionable use of free speech in many people's minds, only briefly slides across the screen in the movie.

The real focus of the movie is instead Flynt's fight with the Rev. Jerry Falwell after Falwell attempted to sue him for publishing a parody of Falwell. The climax of the movie finds Flynt's lawyer (Edward Norton in an amazing performance) arguing the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Although there has been much advance word on the work of Harrelson and Courtney Love, who plays Flynt's AIDS-stricken and drug-addicted wife, their performances are only momentarily exciting.

Norton, on the other hand, is truly engaging as the eager young lawyer who gets more than he bargains for when he decides to take Flynt's first case. Forman would have done well to showcase more of Norton, and less of Harrelson's and Love's antics.

The movie is still entertaining. The script by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who also wrote Ed Wood, provides a great many laughs and even some potent drama. One just has to accept, however, that this is the Hollywood version of Larry Flynt, not the real thing. That is probably for the best, though. Real-life porn kings aren't nearly as funny or as endearing as their Hollywood counterparts.