Full disclosure: Until the trailers started coming out, I had never heard of Harvey Milk.  Not even once.  Now that I think about it, I haven’t made my way to San Fran yet.  Maybe that will be my 2009 road trip.  Anyway, I can’t speak to how close this movie stayed to the real life events or how closely the actors resembled the real people they were playing.  So I’ll focus on two of the major performances.

First James Franco.  I knew he takes his craft seriously, I knew he wasn’t just another pretty boy.  But I thought his performance grounded the movie; he was the character who I felt like I was watching the life of Harvey Milk through.  Spiderman 1 and 2, City by the Sea, Pineapple Express, and now Milk.  I’m comparing Franco to the all the guys and girls who get shoved down our throats as ‘the next big thing,’ and I’m quickly coming to the opinion he’s the best young actor in the game.  Now as far as the best old-school actor…

Sean Penn’s pedigree speaks for itself.  His Oscar winning turn in Mystic River is one of my favorite performances of recent memory.  Now compare that character to Harvey Milk.  Exactly.  I won’t argue with anyone who says Sean Penn is the king of the scenery chewing bunch; I’m just saying the man’s dedication to becoming the characters he’s playing is top notch.

PROPS from me for Milk.  If you have an open mind and want to learn more about a particular moment in American history, I think the film is a good introduction.