SummaryA multifaceted look at the porn industry in Los Angeles in the 70's and 80's, focusing on the journey of a young man (Wahlberg) from restaurant dishwasher to porn star and beyond.
SummaryA multifaceted look at the porn industry in Los Angeles in the 70's and 80's, focusing on the journey of a young man (Wahlberg) from restaurant dishwasher to porn star and beyond.
If Boogie Nights were poorly made and acted, its materials would make it intolerably tawdry. But its so well done that we keep watching. [Nov. 10, 1997]
Had to review this extremely well made movie, i dont think anything lower than an 8 is a justifiable rating, but somehow there is plenty of negative user reviews on this website!? All the negative reviewers all seem to either have an agenda, or aren’t mature enough to accept the subject matter of the film. The negate reviewers are turning a blind eye, to all the fantastic performances by the whole cast, the incredible writing throughout the film, And of course absolutely jaw dropping cinematography, camerawork and editing which is some of the best of all time. The music and score is great, the production design and costume design is exceptional. Anyone giving it lower than an 8 went it in with their mind made up as they were offended by the subject matter.
Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson has perfectly wedded form to function by filming Boogie Nights in a style suggesting the grainy texture of porn and the ambivalence of the era.
He (Anderson) manages to guide his cast of characters through an epic story of self-delusion with a skill and grace that many more experienced filmmakers would be hard put to match.
Heavily influenced by Quentin Tarantino's brand of quirky sensationalism, this high-energy saga by Paul Thomas Anderson goes a long way toward exposing the greed and stupidity of the pornography trade, then loses its moral compass and steers toward a sadly superficial ending.
In Paul Thomas Anderson's brilliant resume, this movie still comes out at number 1.
The screenplay is multi-faceted, funny, touching, disturbing and sad. The casting is spot on and tempo for a 2 1/2 hour movie never slows.
How Titanic won a best picture oscar and this wasn't even nominated for it is just laughable.
I liked it tough it seemed Paul Thomas Anderson being somewhere halfway between Robert Altman and Martin Scorsese without being able to be neither one nor the other. The movie still remains a watchable movie because PTA is simply unable to shot a bad movie but here we're far from the real PTA masterworks.
Like all PTA films Boogie Nights looks stunning. A clever analogy for the beauty, innocence and art of cinema and celluloid, being replaced by cheap and nasty mass-produced video, made solely for profit and entertainment.
What's interesting is how PTA is able the make such a sleazy and immoral environment seem so fun and innocent, within the first act. When the 80's arrive and everything takes a turn for the worst, the writing lost its way and Boogie Nights becomes a bit of a mess (I thought the same of Magnolia). We lose touch with the central characters and Wahlberg (who is great in the 1st half) doesn't have the chops to play the latter stages of his character's demise. The character/scene's which made the greatest impression were with Eric and his mother, based on PTA's own mother.
Bogie Nights is still a great achievement, especially considering PTA was only 27 when he made it.
Most peoples favorite PT Anderson movie is probably my least. I don't dislike this film, it just hits me on a less emotional level than his other work. There is plenty to like here. Reynolds in particular is excellent. The scenes between Wahlberg and Reilly's characters are among the most memorable in any Anderson film. There is a lot more humor from scene to scene than in most Anderson films, ironically that may be why I didn't connect with these characters as well as would have liked. The scene where Diggler and the boys go to a drug dealers house to rip him off best illustrates this. This is a scene that is ultimately where the protagonist of the movie hits rock bottom, but instead of feeling that emotion, I was laughing and shaking my head in disbelief. Don't misunderstand, I enjoyed this scene, and I think Anderson wanted us to see the absurdity. However instead of connecting with these characters as I have in other Anderson films, these moments disconnect me. For me moments like this are what takes this film from being great to just another good movie.