Review of Boogie Nights (1997) by Bradley W — 12 Jun 2012

Boogie Nights is a brilliantly crafted epic about the Golden Age of Porn in the 70's and 80's. But in a way its so much more than that, I mean in some way it teaches us that each person has a gift and we need to use it to our advantage sometimes.

I mean here we have this young guy, he is a high school drop out, he is a dishwasher, and he has an alcoholic mother. But the boy is good looking and incredible at having sex, so he is given a career as a porn star and becomes the best in the business.

I just found a premise like this very interesting and wondered if it was going to be done well, and Paul Thomas Anderson brilliant puts this genius and original story into action. The film is always keeping us entertained, with all the great characters, sexy moments, and a perfect look on the back round of a porn star.

I mean this film has drugs, sex, and a story that is brilliantly executed and flies by so smoothly that this two and a half hour film never has us wondering how much is left, but rather how much more can I watch.

The cast consists of some great names in Hollywood, and every actor played their performance to the core. Mark Wahlberg plays Dirk Diggler, and nobody could've played the part better. I mean I just loved how this innocent guy gets caught up in the world of drugs and sex and it turns him into a jerk, and Wahlberg is just perfect for that.

Burt Reynolds really caught me with how he respects all his workers, and really loves Dirk. Reynolds really how to handle the character well and he just looks like the kind of guy who would be in this business.

Julianne Moore really sells the character of a drug crazed porn star, and the scene where she is in court with her ex-husband was where I thought her performance really shined. John C. Reilly, Don Cheadle, Heather Graham, and the rest of this memorable cast were one of the reasons this film was just so great.

When I watched Boogie Nights, I felt like I was watching Goodfellas if you switched gangsters with porn stars. I mean it has some of the same great elements, it has a young guy who joins a group of people who are frowned upon by society but joins because its something he thinks he'd be great at, it shows how this profession corrupts him, and how it leads to their downfall.

But Boogie Nights is able to use its elements to keep us entertained for the entire runtime, and I felt like the film was just so true with the humanity in the story and characters. Paul Thomas Anderson has made a lot of brilliant films, but this will always be one of his best.