* DesignatedHero: John Holmes. Despite the HistoricalHeroUpgrade he receives, the movie glosses over the fact that he's guilty of statutory rape with his underage mistress.
* JerkassWoobie: John Holmes. He's a manipulative, self-centered liar and thief who sleazes his way through life and rarely thinks of others. But he's so massively fucked up and full of self-hatred and regret for his failed career and addictions its hard not to feel for the guy.
* TheWoobie: Dawn Schiller. She was a teenager who was in a very dysfunctional relationship with the older, married John who even if he ''didn't'' beat her or pimp her out for sex for drug money, he still groomed her. When explaining to John's ex-wife Sharon how she did manage to get away and began training to become a nurse (which was also the same profession that Sharon was in), he took to calling her mother on a nightly basis in an effort to get her to return to him, even telling her to tell Dawn that he loves her. It's nothing short of a miracle that the poor girl managed to survive and live a normal life.