Lovelace (2013)

LOVELACE  (2013)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
    Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Sharon Stone,
    Robert Patrick, Juno Temple, Hank Azaria, 
    Adam Brody, James Franco, Chris Noth, Debi Mazar,
    Bobby Cannavale, Chloë Sevigny, Wes Bentley
The horrible, fucked-up life of Linda Lovelace, formerly Linda Boreman and later Linda Marchiano, whose career peaked and crashed with her performance in "Deep Throat" in 1972. The movie flips around in time, flashing forward, doubling back and repeating itself to tell how a naive, freckle-faced girl from Florida became the star of the world's most widely watched porno flick. Peter Sarsgaard, who seems to have found a niche specializing in men smart girls would do well to stay away from, plays Chuck Traynor, a despicable lowlife who spots Linda dancing at a roller rink and becomes her boyfriend, husband, manager and pimp. The film is really the story of their abusive relationship, but there's not much depth or insight into Linda and Chuck, or why Linda sticks it out through years of what amounts to torture and rape. What holds it together consistently is Amanda Seyfried's performance as a pretty young woman who's not especially glamorous or sophisticated, and whose ingenuous smile and chronic gullibility make her an easy mark for the sleaze merchants who run the sex film trade. If there's a special place in hell for creepy guys who prey on impressionable young women, Chuck Traynor rates a spot there for sure. And when somebody makes a movie covering that end of the story, Chuck Traynor will almost certainly be played, once again, by Peter Sarsgaard.