Howl (2010)

Oy. James Franco stars as poet and NAMBLA spokesman Allen Ginsberg in directors Rob Epstein and Jefferey Friedman's film about the titular poem and the resulting obscenity trial. Franco does an expert impression of Ginsberg (as opposed to giving a performance) and the rest of the impressive cast does what they can with what they are given. You must love, and I mean love, this poem (the vast majority of the movie is Franco reciting Howl) to enjoy this film. I do not. For me, poetry is a boring art form, Beat poetry is worse than boring. I know very well the pleasure of reading great poetry...to myself. However, "great" is rare, and even the best poetry tires the ear when someone is emphatically reciting it to you.