Boogie Nights

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore
Running Time: 156 min.
Rated R for strong sex scenes with explicit dialogue, nudity, drug use, language and violence
4 out of 5 stars

Before the bright neon letters of the film’s title burst onto the screen with a blast of disco music, there is one minute of music much like what can be heard at the most solemn of occasions. It is music that sounds broken, downtrodden, sad. Something is broken. The feeling that this music evokes is the essence of Paul Thomas Anderson’s second film, Boogie Nights; a film that does explore the 70s pornography industry, but is more about the lives of people trying to make themselves happy and successful by any means possible.

At the center of Boogie Nights is Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), a high-school kid who has procured a steady job as a busboy at a Los Angeles nightclub. When Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds), one of the most famous adult film directors in the industry, approaches him about being an actor in his films, Eddie is reluctant to join the team. After leaving his past life behind, Eddie Adams takes his place under the wings of Jack Horner who transforms him into one of the most famous porn stars of the 70s: Dirk Diggler. As P.T. Anderson’s camera moves fluidly through the 70s culture, the audience bears witness to the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of a family of people living on the edge of happiness and desperation.

If I had to describe Anderson’s filmmaking up to this point in time with one phrase, it would have to be “Altman on acid.” His first three films (Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, and Magnolia) resemble those of the late master, but are more wild, free, and uninhibited. Although Boogie Nights is almost three hours long, Anderson’s scripting is tight and few things feel excessive. Much of the film is dialogue (accompanied by a diverse soundtrack of 70s music), but the conversations are never boring. This is partly due to the inherent humor in many scenes (particularly a drug-deal gone bad) but is mostly due to the diverse, first-rate cast has been assembled from which Anderson has coaxed top-notch performances. Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, Heather Graham, John C. Reilly, Philip Baker Hall, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alfred Molina, and others all give very worthy performances.

Boogie Nights spends a large amount of time establishing the flashy, colorful, indulgent lives of it’s characters, but during the film each character gets to experience the antithesis of their seemingly perfect existence. When characters are faced with the consequences of decisions they have made, Anderson pulls no punches in showing the pain that results from careless immorality. This is not a pro-pornography film, but it does not condemn. Rather, it remains quite ambivalent.

By the time the last scene rolls around, Boogie Nights has taken the audience on a journey that encompasses the full range of human emotion and ends with a hearkening statement about the nature of fame and self-deception. It’s a work of art that belies it’s appearance as a tawdry exploitation film and ends up being a very worthwhile journey into the nature of fame and self-deception.