By: MattInRC
Lovelace is too short and lacks the impact of an Oscar-worthy production.
For a woman in Hollywood, bearing one's breasts seems to have various effects - for Gwyneth Paltrow, it won her an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love, and we all know the attention Sharon Stone received for her portrayal in Basic Instinct. But for many, showing off your 'attributes' usually leads to unintended consequences, especially if the final product is not well-received. For Actress Amanda Seyfried, it's unclear what her very public showing off in the flat and uneven Lovelace will do to enhance her career.
Based on the biography of the woman who starred in the most famous porn film of all time - Deep Throat - Lovelace is actually Linda Boreman, a 21-year-old living at home with a controlling mother (the barely recognizable Sharon Stone) and a father (Robert Patrick) who chooses to look the other way. Seeking her freedom, Linda meets the sexually available sleazy bar operator Chuck (Peter Sarsgaard), who sexes up the shy girl into his plaything, threatening violence if she doesn't submit to him. His free-form lifestyle pushes her into the world of prostitution and pornography, garnering the attention of 'filmmaker' Gerard Damiano (Hank Azaria). Soon, Deep Throat is underway, as Linda believes doing so will pay off the debt that Chuck owes to his shady business associates. But Linda's not ready for the fame that comes with being a porn star, and Chuck milks it for all it's worth. Worried about Chuck's increasingly violent behavior and fearful of what he's become, Lovelace must decide if she'll sink further into this dark world or remove herself before violence overtakes her young life.
The cast reads like a who's-who of talent, including Chris Noth and pseudo-cameos by Eric Roberts, Wes Bentley, and James Franco as Playboy's Hugh Hefner. But the film co-directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman and written by Andy Belin is poorly edited, with a series of confusing Tarantino wanna-be flashbacks that are supposed to serve as the emotional anchor while Linda takes a polygraph test. Male fans will appreciate the amount that Seyfried is bare-chested and bare-butted here, but the dialogue is too melodramatic and the result lacks the historical punch of Lovelace's autobiography Ordeal. This 'based on a true story' feature is too short (at just 93 minutes) for us to care - even when Lovelace escapes Chuck and re-marries (which is done in one of those 'Six Years Later' fade-ins), we have no context for how she met her second husband or whether her child is Chuck's or his. But beyond her good looks, Seyfried is still the reason to watch Lovelace - she excels as a woman hiding behind the fear of an abusive marriage, who somehow finds a way to escape an industry that captures churns willing victims through its meat grinder.
Sarsgaard has done this sort of sleazy kind of portrayal before when he starred in An Education. And of course Boogie Nights established the genre, so it comes as no surprise that nothing here seems fresh. Reduced to a mere character portrayal, Lovelace can't figure out if it's a tragic cautionary tale or amusing historical satire.
Deep Throat captivated a nation, earning fortunes which Lovelace never saw - it ushered in a new era that we're seeing played out today in so-called 'secret sex tapes' that bring fame to its undeserving stars. In a world where Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian established their names based on the same profession Lovelace entered for a brief 17 days, Lovelace should have had more emotional pull. Instead, it's a slow, depressing flush that probably won't end Seyfried's career, but it could hurt her future bankability, much like it did Lovelace who couldn't nail (no pun intended) real gigs.
As Lovelace moves into the shooting of Deep Throat, Actor Bobby Cannavale sees Linda's 'skills' in front of the camera and blurts out, "We are all gonna win Oscars!” One has a feeling that the creative team must have been thinking the same thing as they were shooting this all-too-short and emotionally unsatisfying tale. Lovelace is rated R for drug use, nudity, language, and domestic violence.
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