The People vs. Larry Flynt
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: December 25, 1996 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
79
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
1
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger 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. Read full review
100
Film.comJohn Hartl
Raucously entertaining.
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen 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. Read full review
100
USA TodayMike 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. Read full review
100
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
A blazing, unlikely triumph about a man who is nobody's idea of a movie hero. Smart, funny, shamelessly entertaining and perfectly serious too. Read full review
100
NewsweekDavid 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." Read full review
100
Film.comRobert 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.
100
Washington PostRita Kempley
Enormously entertaining and surprisingly touching. Read full review
90
Film.comSean 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.
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Provocative and engrossing. Read full review
90
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Vastly entertaining. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael 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
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Tells a good, intelligent story that keeps us interested and involved. Read full review
88
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara 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." Read full review
80
Film ThreatChris 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? Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
With "Flynt," Love does what Madonna has been trying to do for 12 years -- create a performance filled with humor, intelligence and soul. Read full review
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. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid 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. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan 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. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineStaff (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. Read full review
70
TimeRichard 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. Read full review
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