It should come as no surprise that James Franco is great in the role of Allen Ginsberg--after all, Franco's done his best work to date portraying stoners and gays. (See: Freaks and Geeks, Pineapple Express, Milk.) Perhaps Franco also found some connection to the role via his own literary aspirations, though the less said about his fiction output, the better. (Don't see: "Just Before the Black," Esquire, March 24.) Whatever the source of his inspiration, Franco immerses himself convincingly in Ginsberg's character in Howl, which juxtaposes interview transcripts with courtroom scenes from the obscenity case against Grove Press, publisher of Ginsberg's controversial poem. Howl is a mostly successful historical reenactment--the Grove trial is lent additional fascination by the casting of Mad Men's Jon Hamm as Grove's lawyer. Unfortunately, significant portions of the film superimpose Franco's voice, reading "Howl," over animations based on the poem. These attempts to capture the spirit of the poem fall embarrassingly flat. by Alison Hallett