Bryan Kluger 'Lovelace' is the first of two films this year based on the porn phenomenon Linda Lovelace, who rose to superstardom in the early '70s with the film 'Deep Throat'.This bio-pic might've been a disaster, but directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman have made an engaging and entertaining look at the former Linda Boreman's life, even if her situations are difficult to watch at times. The acting is spot-on, and the movie has a killer retro soundtrack.You've probably heard the story of 'Deep Throat', one of the first porno films to include a plot, characters and a decently-sized budget. Shot for around $50,000, the movie has made hundreds of millions in profit over the years.We first meet Linda (Amanda Seyfried) as a 19-year-old girl living with her parents (Robert Patrick and an unrecognizable Sharon Stone) in Florida, where she and her friend are hired as Go-Go dancers at the local skating rink. A man by the name of Chuck Traynor (Peter Sarsgaard) takes a liking to her, and the two eventually run off to get married. After Chuck realizes Linda's talent, he brings her to porn producer Butchie Periano (Bobby Cannavale) and director Gerard Damiano (Hank Azaria). As we already know from history, the movie they made together became a huge success.However, as we see in a time-jump several years forward, Linda later wrote a book called 'Ordeal' that chronicled her life with Traynor, who she claimed beat and tortured her, and forced her into slavery and gang rapes for money. He also handled all her financial affairs and never let her see a dime from the movie. It's a sad and depressing story, but not without a light of hope as Linda escapes Traynor and becomes an activist for women's rights who spoke out against pornography until her untimely death by car crash in 2002.The film is similar in structure to 'Boogie Nights'. The first section is fun with lots of '70s music, dancing and parties. Then, the second half is a dark downward spiral as these successful people hit rock bottom, and Linda is forced to perform wretched acts on strangers by her abusive husband.Seyfried brings Linda Lovelace to life. She's elegant, attractive and damn fun to watch. The actress captures the emotional depth of this sad tale. Sarsgaard pulls off one of the slimiest characters ever put to film. Not once do you like this guy. Sharon Stone is the wild card here; she's physically unrecognizable, but gives one hell of a supporting performance. Cannavale and Azaria turn in hilarious supporting roles, and the movie also has cameos by James Franco (as a young Hugh Hefner), Wes Bentley, Eric Roberts, Adam Brody and Juno Temple.

NateWatchesCoolMovies I don't know exactly how faithful to the true story of Linda Boreman this film is, all I know is I was riveted by this heightened recreation of the unfortunate, sad life of adult film actress Boreman, whose screen name was Linda Lovelace. It brings to mind the even darker story of Dorothy Stratten, a similarily mistreated sex symbol documented in the film Star 80. Eric Roberts was a star in that one, and makes a brief appearance here, almost like a nod of the head to that story. Amanda Seyfried is achingly good as Linda, displaying a fragility and striking resilience in her excellent performance. At a young age, she's manipulated into certain things, namely appearing adult films including the infamous 'Deep Throat', by her abusive dirtbag boyfriend Chuck. Peter Sarsgaard is a slimy wonder as the ultimate trashy prick, putting her through some truly hellish times that take a long time to recover from. Sharon Stone is unrecognizable as Linda's uber conservative mother, and Robert Patrick gives buckets of emotion in his few scenes as her sympathetic father. Rounding out the all star cast are Bobby Cannavle, Adam Brody, Hank Azaria, Debi Mazar, Chloe Sevigny, Chris Noth and Juno Temple as various people orbiting Linda's sordid story, some helpful, some sleazy, all interesting. The one misstep in casting is James Franco as a baby faced Hugh Hefner, which brings you right out of the film. The core of the piece lies with Seyfried's assured, confident performance, and amongst all the glitz, scum, bells and whistles the filmmakers conjure up to try and pad the story, she always blessedly reigns it in to the singular plight of one woman in trouble. That takes talent.

moonspinner55 "Inspired by" the lurid true story of Linda Lovelace (Marchiano-Traynor-Boreman), this is a rather sanitized portrait of the "Deep Throat" actress, whose appearance in the 1972 pornographic blockbuster made her a household name and movie-industry punchline. Lovelace's own book "Ordeal" was basically a checklist of horrors, including a marriage to sadistic manager Chuck Traynor, who abused her, pimped her out and, finally, cheated her out of her porno-biz earnings. Some of that material does indeed make it into "Lovelace", however the character of Linda (played by a well-cast Amanda Seyfried) has been made one-dimensional. She isn't coerced into her X-rated career, kicking and screaming; this Lovelace is--at least, initially--proud to be a desirable woman, eager to please, eager to be sexy and excited about being in the spotlight. At the film's halfway point, screenwriter Andy Bellin backtracks through the narrative and gives us repeat scenes with a less-glamorous undermining, showing us the fear and dread in Linda's life, who kept going back to coke-snorting Traynor because she had no money and nowhere else to turn. Unfortunately, neither side of the story is very convincing, at least not as presented here; the filmmakers are too warmly nostalgic for the era, and seem to have been smitten by other movies such as "Boogie Nights" that exalt in their themes, no matter how sleazy (there's also a dash of "Star 80" thrown in). The good cast includes a genuinely menacing Peter Sarsgaard as Traynor and Sharon Stone in a remarkable character-turn as Linda's rigid mother, but we never get a sense of Linda Lovelace as a used, ravaged individual. The production is too bright, too clean, and the people in Linda's world too nice, to pack the sort of punch Linda Lovelace the Author would have demanded. ** from ****

Johan Dondokambey The story reveals the nature of the real life figure n such a nice way, depicting three separate perspectives of how people around her see her life; how people see the fun and glamor and sex, how they see the harsh domestic violence and forced submissions, and how they see the struggle Linda made to be rid of Chuck. The first part goes on as many other similar movies although with less sharp screenplay to expose more on it. The second part feels just right although the movie feels a little less confident about using the variation in camera angles. The last part unfortunately doesn't really get to be dramatized as much as the first two parts. This would be nice to hold the authenticity, but it's impact gets reduced compared to the first two parts. The acting in general is a decent work in overall. Amanda Seyfried did quite well on her part and confident about her body. Peter Sarsgaard repeats the charm he played in An Education, changing only his accent and his facial hair in doing so. Having great talents like James Franco, Sharon Stone, Juno Temple and Bobby Cannavale sure does increase the movie's acting parts, even if the actors only have less significant parts.