Review of Boogie Nights (1997) by Brendan C — 14 Dec 2013

"Everyone is blessed with one special thing." - Eddie Adams.

Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg) is a high school drop out, who is discovered by a famous porn director named Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds). After his mother kicks him out of the house he goes to work for Jack. He grows to like the world he is in, once he enters it. When he is asked to come up with a name for himself to be used in the porno's that he will be casted in, he comes up with the name "Dirk Diggler." Once he comes up with that he insists on being called that, and he is never called Eddie again for the rest of the film. Dirk becomes a huge star in the world of pornography, but eventually gets into drugs and goes downhill.

Boogie Nights is a very good Paul Thomas Anderson film that isn't his best, but it is one of them. It is different, because it isn't as deep, or as quirky as his other films are. I feel like it doesn't have the usual Paul Thomas Anderson style that films like Magnolia have. It has his style, but films like magnolia to me are like Paul Thomas Anderson to the max. This film seems different for him. At the same time all of his films are different, but this is one of the more unique ones for him if you ask me. What felt different about this one was that I didn't find myself thinking a ton when I watched it. It wasn't nearly as thoughts provoking for me at least as a few of his later films were.

I felt like it showed me another world that is very different, but one that is real. It made me feel like the business of pornography, which this film focuses on, isn't very different from the regular film business, except it is all revolved around sex, and people that are really messed up, but it functions the same way. It is one of these films where they made the world look like a lot of fun at first, but awful at the same time. The people in the world seemed to be really enjoying what they were doing, and passionate about it. The director Jack Horner always had these visions for his films, and he seemed so passionate and into them. He talked about it like it was great art, and I kept thinking "Come on man what you are doing isn't art, don't take it so seriously." It shows how ridiculous it all is. I feel like Paul Thomas Anderson made the film to look that way. If that was his intention he did a fantastic job. I always felt like pornography is ridiculous, and total garbage, and this film made it all look that way if you ask me.

The film also took place during the drugs, sex and rock and roll era. There was a lot of sex, and a lot of drugs. The only thing to me that was missing for most of the film was rock and roll. The sex was extremely graphic, and it got uncomfortable to be honest. They spoke about it very graphically too. Overall I felt like it was wild. The drug aspect of the film made all the characters go downhill, and ruin their lives. It eventually got violent too. Overall the film was based off of really negative things in the world so it wasn't very happy. But it did give me perspective to how messed up that world was.

This was a very interesting Paul Thomas Anderson film that showed me what I felt like was a different world. The world of pornography is pretty messed up, and this film shows that. It is also a really bizarre world, and I have a feeling that the film depicted it very accurately. Though at times the film was very uncomfortable due to the graphic sex, and the language it was very enjoyable and entertaining. It had good performances from everybody, and it was well shot.