The People Vs. Larry Flynt - Region 1 DVD

Forman, who left the political repression of his native Czechoslovakia in 1968 after the Soviet invasion, has described his ebullient (but serious) American comedy as a celebration of the First Amendment, and you can feel his perverse delight shining through in every scene. He convinces us that any constitution that protects the rights of a vulgar pariah like Flynt isn't a failure; it is a cause for rejoicing. Flynt represents the price of freedom, and it is a price well worth paying. The screenplay by Ed Wood writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who seem to excel at creating ambivalent portraits of disreputable figures, entertainingly explores the contradictory emotions and complex moral dilemmas that the Bill of Rights was meant to inspire--as if Frank Capra had been a card-carrying member of the ACLU. --Jim Emerson