Review: Boogie Nights (1997)

Boogie Nights

Rating

Director

Paul Thomas Anderson

Screenplay

Paul Thomas Anderson

Length

2h 35m

Starring

Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, Heather Graham, Nicole Ari Parker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzman, Philip Baker Hall, Thomas Jane, Robert Ridgely, Robert Downey Sr., Nina Hartley, Melora Walters, Alfred Molina, Ricky Jay, Joanna Gleason, Laurel Holloman, Michael Penn

MPAA Rating

Review

There are some industries Hollywood tends to shy away from, avoiding the ones that might end up with their products regulated, as it was for more than 30 years. Boogie Nights explores the porn industry and all its thorny glory, portraying the grit and glamor that is often ignored in one of the most profitable and enduring trades.

Nearly as old as the world’s oldest profession (because sex sells), pornography has been a consistent performer since its emergence as a viable industry in the 1970s. This film is set in that era, what is often described as the Golden Age of Porn. Beginning in 1977, a high school dropout (Mark Wahlberg) meets a prominent porn producer (Burt Reynolds) and becomes a major performer under the screen name Dirk Diggler. As his career takes off, he and a fellow actor (John C. Reilly) begin dabbling in drugs, much like their “mother” Amber Waves (Julianne Moore). As their success begins to crumble around them, the reality of the world outside of the industry leads to their inevitable implosions.

In his second feature film as a director, Paul Thomas Anderson showed the world that he was a world class filmmaker who knew how to take well worn tropes and turn them on their heads, crafting compelling narratives that explored the dangers of fame, the ugliness of life, and the strength everyone must employ to make it out in one piece. His screenplay was tightly crafted, interweaving numerous narrative threads that come to a head in the film’s warts-and-all finale. His directorial skill is almost an equal to his writing capabilities, weaving a dense story deftly and commanding some of the best ensemble performances since Robert Altman. That one-shot party scene alone is a stunner.

The ensemble wasn’t just a triumph of Anderson’s direction, it was the veritable skill of the cast he assembled. Wahlberg hasn’t been this good since, which is a shame as the film showed he had great promise. Reynolds, on the other hand, was showcasing that his storied career wasn’t merely as a matinee idol and box office draw. Apart from one other actor, Reynolds acted circles around the entire cast delivering the single best performance in his filmography. Better despite being significantly younger, Moore makes the kind of major breakthrough that few actors ever get. As the matriarch and exemplar of the industry, Waves gives the audience a glimpse of the weary façade of a porn actor whose senior status earns her great respect but comes with greater costs, a troubled life that becomes her own undoing. It’s a riveting performance that easily outshines the rest of the still-impressive cast.

Boogie Nights was a turning point in American cinema. Certainly, the indie scene had struggled previously so that this film to flourish but it showed Hollywood that film could shed the gritty look of most indie films and appear polished, even glossy, while still examining difficult and oft-ignored subjects with insight and wisdom.

Awards Prospects (what I said in 1997)

This film has Oscar written all over it. If the Academy can get past its content and look at its quality, this film could do some major cleaning up. Expect guaranteed nominations for Burt Reynolds and most likely for Julianne Moore. Mark Wahlberg has hopes, but I think that’s all they are. As for the visualness, expect a few tech nominations and maybe a song thrown in.