Boogie Nights is one of my favorite films of 1997. It's a perfectly paced movie, set very much in the vein of a Tarantino, Stone or Scorsese movie. This is director Paul Thomas Anderson's first major film, and it's also one of the best movies to come along in a long time. "Boogie Nights" enters a world where everything feels very loose, and hopes of freedom and trust permeate its very fabric.

The movie is an ensemble piece and finely crafted character study that follows its cast through the late seventies, during the end of the "real" cinema era of pornography. It also continues on into the early eighties when porn became cheap and dirty and marketed for the dime a dozen video cassette crowd. "Boogie Nights" is about broken dreams and searching for yourself in a crazy, mixed up world. It's about wanting more when you can never have more. It's about wanting more even when you have nothing.

The main arch of the story follows the rise and fall of porn star Dirk Diggler, played by Mark Whalberg. Diggler's discovered by a hot director played by Burt Reynolds (in one of his best performances ever), who brings Diggler into his "family." And that's the neat thing about "Boogie Nights," the characters interact like a family. Not in a sexual way, but in a real and emotionally understandable way. This group of people has been rejected in the real world and through their work and lives together they support each other throughout their trials and tribulations. And "Boogie Nights" does a great job of making you think about the events and how they affect the characters.

The movie also ends with one of the most innovative climaxes since "Pulp Fiction." Just sit back and watch as Dirk and his buddies try and rip off a rich drug dealer and his Asian companion. The scene plays out in a tone that is as tripy and stressed out as the people involved. It's innovative and original, and we feel for them when it all goes down. It epitomizes their point in life and shows the stark reality of rock bottom.

"Boogie Nights" also sports a great soundtrack. So is this thought provoking soft-core porn? Well it is thought provoking, and even though the main thread that brings these people together is porn, we see very little of it in the movie.

This film is different, but it is great. And if you allow yourself just to be captured by it's story and atmosphere right from the beginning, you'll be set for a ride that takes you from high to low to another high. It's just that good.

Grade: A

(Movie originally reviewed on October 27, 1997)


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older