valleycapfan "Lenny" is a movie better appreciated than enjoyed, much in the same class as "The Unforgiven," "Taxi Driver," and "Bad Lieutenant." Dustin Hoffman, as one might expect, literally crawls into Lenny Bruce's skin in portraying the groundbreaking but fatally flawed comedian/social critic's short, tumultuous life. What is an unexpected surprise is Valerie Perrine's stunning performance as Bruce's unstable wife, Honey Harlow. Those who are more familiar with Perrine's performances as glorified eye candy will be blindsided by her acting chops as demonstrated here.The use of black-and-white film captures the bleak mood of the film, which strains under the pressure of persuading viewers to follow two unlikable characters for two hours. While Bruce may have been brave and visionary in breaking down taboos at the time, this film correctly avoids making him a completely sympathetic figure.Despite the great acting performances, the film's quasi-documentary approach leads to a disjointed narrative that is more distracting than effective. "Interviews" with the actual relatives and colleagues of Bruce rather than actors portraying them - still possible when the film was made in 1974 - would have been more convincing in laying out Bruce's intentions and persona.Bottom line is that this film is worth watching, though one will leave depressed. Bob Fosse's approach to portraying Bruce's career will be appreciated by some more than others, but if he was attempting to make the audience bemoan Bruce's John Belushi-style exit from life, he failed with this viewer.

Michael_Elliott Lenny (1974) **** (out of 4) Bob Fosse's masterpiece takes a look at the short life of comic Lenny Bruce (Dustin Hoffman) who would die at the age of forty but not before breaking down certain doors for future comics. The film follows his rise up through the ranks thanks in large part to the controversy that followed him due to the nature of his act. I've always felt that LENNY was one of the best movies of the decade and even after all these years it's still a very sharp, at times funny but mostly sad look at a man who deserved much better than he ever got. There's no doubt in my mind that the film was like the light shining from above on both Fosse and Hoffman as the two were perfectly meant to bring this film to the screen and boy do they really deliver. Fosse's style here wouldn't work with most directors but the way he uses it to get to the emotion and power in the story is quite amazing. The film jumps back and forth through different periods of Bruce's life and the way Fosse uses this to build up the subject is something interesting to watch. Just take a look at a rather innocent scene where Bruce talks his wife into having a threesome with another woman. Just look at how the silence is used and the impact this has for this scene. Hoffman gives one of his greatest performances here, which is saying quite a bit considering how great he was during this period of his career. I thought he really did a remarkable job at not copying the real Lenny Bruce but instead taking him and forming him into this character. I thought Hoffman really gave an incredibly powerful and emotional performance and especially as Bruce begins to crack due to the pressures of the courts and the drugs. Valerie Perrine is also excellent in her role of Bruce's drug addicted wife. The B&W cinematography is some of the greatest you're ever going to see. This is certainly one of the most beautiful films you're ever going to see and especially the way the lighting is even in the simplest scenes. LENNY often gets beaten up by some critics because it's not 100% accurate but I've yet to see any bio pic that is. To me this is clearly one of the best movies of the decade and features one of the greatest performances you're going to see.

Bunwad As a fan of Lenny Bruce since first seeing him on Steve Allen's TV comedy series sometime around 1959, never the less this quick review is NOT a long sycophantic tribute to Lenny himself - just a quick comment on the film.Very good screenplay, excellent b&w photography & direction, and some really good-to-outstanding acting by all the players, including Dustin Hoffman in the title role.That being said, I'm tempted to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen in his vice presidential debate with Dan Quail: in other words, despite Dustin Hoffman's considerable acting talent - he's no Lenny Bruce.Lenny Bruce was a lot of things: satirist, social critic, con man, drug addict, entertainer, etc - but above all he was incredibly funny. Sadly, Dustin Hoffman in this film, is rarely if ever funny. His timing and delivery is so slow and unprofessional compared to Lenny's, I almost cringe these days whenever I try to watch this film, especially during the on-stage comedy segments.This is not a knock on Hoffman, and I am a big Dustin Hoffman fan. In fairness, if you've ever seen any of Lenny's short films, it's fair to say when it comes to acting, Lenny was certainly no Dustin Hoffman either. And in additional fairness to Mr. Hoffman, maybe Fosse directed him to deliver his comedy lines at this "un-Lenny-like" almost deliberate tempo (unlikely IMO - someone as talented, independent and downright headstrong as Hoffman probably would have worn Fosse down if this was the case).And I still recommend the film highly and have watched it many times. It's a damn good film - well acted, well-written, and photographed & edited so beautifully.Want to see and hear the REAL Lenny Bruce, not in sad decline like some of the 1965 Basin Street West SF videos on the internet, but in Lenny's prime? Try to get your hands on a copy of or somehow manage to view the excellent and maybe-NEVER-to-be-released (music copyright issues?) documentary by Robert Weide: "Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth"and you'll see what I mean.Lenny may have been a lot of the things portrayed in Fosse's treatment, but most of all, like the last line and unlike Hoffman's on-stage portrayal in this film,Lenny was "just so damn funny."

AKHIL AGGARWAL Lenny is a great movie dealing with several social issues, shown from a celebrity perspective but they stand good from a common man's perspective. The timing to watch such movie could not have been better because recently only we lost the most popular human being off all times and I was comparing his….MJ's life to that of Lenny and they seemed quite similar especially the end. The movie also looked good probably because I did not how big of a personality this guy Lenny was (was written about in Time magazine n all) and my previous experience with such biographies hasn't been that great. The only safe bet I had was Dustin Hoffman and from the first scene he looked his usual best. The movie's style, of how Lenny derived his socio-comic material from his own experiences. The editing of the scenes where what was happening in his life, was being laughed upon in a subsequent scene by audience when Lenny put them in his own comical fashion. In the starting when he did that, I thought he was a shallow personality but on the other hand I think he was a strong personality who brought all those social issues to a bigger audience for people to learn from them. Also a lot of things he was accused of back in the days…most of them are a common thing today…so we can say he was ahead of time. Bottom line: everybody got problems…its just that we get to hear about celebrities' only