Review: Lovelace

 

 

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The story of Linda Lovelace, who is used and abused by the porn industry at the behest of her coercive husband, before taking control of her life.

 

Lovelace starts off modestly with a young woman living at home with her parents experiencing the growing pains that come with. No 20 year old woman wants to feel the confines of living with their parents, right? They want a knight in shining armor to come wisk them away to someplace else, and thats pretty much how the film begins. It’s a typical scenario, at least in film, and is often just a mechanic to quickly progress a story. The story more or less continues with its predictability from there on out for better or worse. Lovelace’s good acting appreciates the film greatly and delivers a solid tale about the intriguing life of Linda Boreman.

 

I like how Amanda Seyfried looked in the role as Linda. She brought a charm to the character and just watching how the other character react to her actually added to her character. I would imagine being that exposed for a movie would, in some way, be noticeable in her performance but you’d be damned to see her appear anything other than natural. Linda perplexed me and I just couldn’t understand her or her whimsical ways. It wasn’t until the latter half of the film that I found the perspective I needed and I discovered the nuances of the performance. Linda wasn’t ditzy and easy going, she was an emotional wreck. I may just be slow but the revelation made me like the movie a bit more than I did prior.

 

James Franco pops up from time to time and although I welcomed his appearance his character is very stoic and isn’t even in the film very much. Brevity is a bit of a letdown with a few of my favorite actors on the billing, thankfully Hank Azaria was fun to watch and was right on the money as porn producer Gerard Damiano. He gave off the persona of a man that you wouldn’t want your daughter near which is perfect for a porn director. I’m not sure how I felt about Peter Sarsgaard because I really didn’t like his character very much. He was an unexplained asshole, which made him kinda fun, but man that Chuck Traynor was a dick. Sarsgaard did pretty well with what he had and from beginning to end he found a way to make sure I continued to dislike his character (on purpose!).

 

 

I can’t shake the fact that I didn’t like the pacing of Lovelace. I get the fact that this story spans years and certain things need to be moved along but it left me wanting and I feel like I missed out on some important details. The fast paced coupled with the predictability to the film gave me a good, but not great, ‘TV Movie’ vibe. Lovelace maintained my interest from beginning to end and I personally enjoyed this movie.  I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone but I think folks who enjoy a good biographical drama and fans of Amanda Seyfried in general will like this one. Lovelace is available in theaters and  VOD so you can watch at your own pace (which I’d recommend).

 

I give Lovelace a 6.5 out of 10