James Franco is undoubtedly the “it” guy of 2010. I’d like to think of him as Hansel from "Zoolander" (“he’s so hot right now”). Not only does the guy balance roles in studio blockbusters with intelligent art-house dramas but he also spends a lot of his time as a poet, painter, director, screenwriter, soap star and full-time grad student (a student enrolled in four, yea that’s right... four, different graduate institutions across the nation). And most impressive about all of this is that he partakes in all of this while juggling acting gigs! By the time December roles by, Franco will have appeared in four movies this year – the romantic comedy "Date Night," the romantic drama "Eat, Pray, Love," the Danny Boyle’s masterful "127 Hours" and the subject of this review – "Howl," the opening night film of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

While his sensational performance in "127 Hours" will justly be the role that’ll garner him a ton of notice this awards season, Franco’s performance in "Howl" as controversial and celebrated writer Allen Ginsberg is just as worthy, even if it’s not a flashy performance. Franco immerses himself into the character, embodying Ginsberg’s mannerisms, down to his bizarre speech pattern. It’s an excellent piece of work, surpassed only by his work in "127 Hours" and his performance as screen legend James Dean in the television film of the same name. Unfortunately, his considerable performance is more-or-less wasted because unless you’re really familiar or more specifically, a big fan of Alan Ginsberg’s work, you’re unlikely to get much out of the film, even if it is very well crafted.

Written and directed by Academy Award-winning documentary filmmakers Rob Epstein ("The Life and Times of Harvey Milk") and Jeffrey Friedman ("Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt"), "Howl" is more of an experimental docudrama than a conventional biopic. It’s experimental in the way that instead of going through the now-clichéd narrative cycle adopted by most biopics (birth, romance, creative peak, drug abuse, depression, redemption etc…) it attempts to tell Ginsberg’s life story through four inter-locking narratives: The first being a one-on-one interview with Ginsberg in which he talks about his upbringing, his influences and his life in general. This narrative is juxtaposed with black and white flashback segments which include a reading of “Howl” by Ginsberg at a New York bar, his homosexuality and friendships with fellow “Beat Generation” writers Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady. The third narrative is a beautiful and trippy animated rendition of the entire poem scored to a jazz soundtrack while the final and most interesting narrative takes place in a courtroom where two lawyers (Jon Hamm, David Strathairn) argue whether or not the poem “Howl” classifies as art or jazzed-up smut.

Now if you’re thinking – wow, this sounds really interesting, then you’re probably right. "Howl" is a very interesting picture and at times, it’s exceedingly well-done but the way that it goes about approaching its subject is anything but. Rather than delve into what made the man tick, the film places Ginsberg on a pedestal to show us how great he was. Being an uncultured swine, my first flirtation with Ginsberg and “Howl” only took place on the day I found out the film was selected as Sundance’s opening night feature. The fact that I had to look both him and the poem up on Wikipedia and read about what exactly his importance in American fiction was after watching the film should give you some insight into how much "Howl" works as a biography… or doesn’t.

Outside Franco, both Jon Hamm and David Strathairn are excellent as always. Hamm even gets a great monologue that reminded me of how much I already miss "Mad Men." Also showing up in blink-and-you’ll-miss-it roles are Jeff Daniels as a snobbish University professor who opposes the publication of 'Howl' and an almost unrecognizable Mary-Louise Parker as another literary scholar.

BOTTOM LINE: "Howl" is a very-well crafted experimental docudrama about the life and importance of Allen Ginsberg and his epic poem 'Howl' on 20th century American fiction. But despite a superb leading performance from James Franco as Ginsberg and strong supporting turns from Jon Hamm and David Strathairn, directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman fail to decipher what made Ginsberg tick and what it is that made him such an influential figure. My best bet is that this one will only appeal to the hardcore Ginsberg fans. If you’re like me and have never been exposed to Ginsberg, then you’re unlikely to gain much from "Howl."

GRADE: C+

HOWL

Written & Directed by: Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman

Starring: James Franco, Jon Hamm, David Strathairn, Jeff Daniels

Rated: Not Rated