I think I just unintentionally kicked off a Paul Thomas Anderson retrospective, after being reminded myself of just how great Boogie Nights is.
This was far from a first viewing for me. I'd probably seen Boogie Nights a good five or six times before this, but it had been probably near a decade since my last viewing, and it's been airing on Showtime lately. So before I knew it, I was once again following the rise, fall, and return of fictional porn star Dirk Diggler.
To summarize the rather epic story: Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg) is a young man who lives in Los Angeles and washes dishes in a nightclub, but who has dreams of being a movie star. Eddie isn't particularly bright or talented, acting-wise, but he is endowed with an especially large penis and the ability to "perform" with prodigious frequency. These assets catch the eye of Jack Horner, a successful producer and director of pornographic movies. Eddie is soon whisked into a world of his dreams, with other porn stars who quickly embrace a befriend him, and Eddie soon proves himself highly adept at porn acting. Adopting the stage name Dirk Diggler, he rapidly rises to the top of the profession, such as it is. A few short years after his dizzying, whirlwind ascent, Eddie starts to be corrupted by many of the porn industry's seedier elements. Drug use is rampant among many of his co-stars and the hangers-on of the porn industry. Sexual deviancy, including that of the repugnant and illegal variety, is always on the periphery or looming over the business. And the inner turmoil and interpersonal dysfunction of many of his associates eventually rub the shine off of Eddie's success. Deep into a cocaine habit, Eddie steadily spirals out of control, falling out completely with Jack and having his life hit a pretty nasty rock bottom. After a couple of frightening close calls with death, Eddie throws himself on Jack's mercy, begs for help, and is given a chance to get back on his feet within the industry that made him.
Boogie Nights is such a surprisingly entertaining movie that it still dazzles me. The description above might suggest a movie that is about nothing more than a sleazy industry, and the rise, fall, and redemption of someone within it. While all of those things are parts of the film, it does far more than that. In the same fashion that Martin Scorsese did with Goodfellas and Casino, writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson found and brought to the fore the many human elements in such a tale. Not only that, but he imbued the story with so much humor that it's hard not to find yourself smiling and laughing for the majority of the film. Most of the humor, again not unlike Scorsese gangster pictures, comes from the characters not knowing just how dumb they are and sound. Eddie and his fellow porn stars are nearly all very sweet but also very naive, shallow, and oblivious to their own shortcomings in many ways. Maybe it's Reed Rothchild's blatantly false claims about how much weight he can bench-press, or Buck Swope's endless aping of dead fashions, or Eddie's ear-splitting attempts at a music career. In so many ways, these characters make themselves the butt of jokes, thanks to all of them enabling each other and bubbling themselves off from a greater sense of reality. The clueless bumbling is often hilarious.
But it's not the comedy alone that makes this movie so great. It's that Paul Thomas Anderson, as he's done in other films, finds a perfect balance between effective comedy and affecting drama. As comically dopey as many of the characters are in Boogie Nights, many of them actually evoke sympathy from viewers. This is no more obvious than with the protagonist, Eddie. He's clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he's relatively innocent and genuinely sensitive in ways that most of those around him are not, including a mother who viciously puts him down. When things start going south in Eddie's life and career, it is actually sad. Just as sad are the ways in which his friends' and colleagues' lives devolve, as well. The most obvious is his frequent porn co-star, Amber Waves (Julianne Moore), who adopts a maternal tone with the younger porn actors around her, while having her own personal life fall to pieces, thanks in no small part to her wildly irresponsible life choices. When we see her sobbing outside of a courthouse, after rightfully losing a custody hearing, it's obvious that she is a woman in pain. It doesn't alleviate the blame she has earned, but it does humanize her effectively. And there are several other such examples with other characters who are initially easy to dismiss as simply dumb and self-destructive, but whom you eventually see more as real people with deep personal and even psychological problems.
I don't know if a caveat is necessary for a movie that is more than two decades old, but I should offer one to those who haven't seen the film but are considering watching it: this movie is about the pornographic movie industry. And it doesn't pull too many punches when it comes to sex. While it's not extremely graphic, there is certainly more than a little nudity and even several simulated sex scenes. And it is obviously the background against which the entire story takes place. For those uncomfortable with the sex industry, this movie may be too much to take. However, the film doesn't completely ignore some of the downright immoral and illegal aspects of and people involved with the industry. This gives us a picture that's more complete than just the wild rise and fall of the actors. The character of prime producer and director Jack Horner, portrayed in an Oscar-winning performance by Burt Reynolds, is the clearest example. He does show concern about his actors, to a point. But it's a mistake to see him as some sort of nurturing father-figure, as much as he seems to view himself that way. Ultimately, he's exploiting young people by ignoring their destructive tendencies up to the point that they start biting into his profits. Yes, he gives second chances, enjoys harmony, and wants to make films that have more "story" than your average adult picture. But he also enables his actors' drug habits and self-delusions, never really thinking about whether he is helping them become healthier or not. Some of this is painfully obvious, but much of it is merely implied and easier to miss under the veneer of the "happy family" that we see at the end of the movie.
I have to mention the cast of this movie. Without getting specific, all you need to do it look at a partial list of the top-billed actors: Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Don Cheadle, William H. Macy, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. These are the most prominent (some of them before they were to become even better known for film), but this list gives you some idea of the acting talent present here. It's tough to top, and each and every one of them bring their A-games. This crew could make a bad script with bad direction decent. With Boogie Nights, they made a great script with great direction an all-time great movie.
I doubt that I'll ever get tired of watching this movie. In nearly every way, it's an exemplary piece of film craft. Watching it again has, I think, sparked a desire to go back and re-watch several of Anderson's other movies, just to revel in just how masterful a filmmaker he is, and Boogie Nights is really where he first proved it.
Boogie Nights is such a surprisingly entertaining movie that it still dazzles me. The description above might suggest a movie that is about nothing more than a sleazy industry, and the rise, fall, and redemption of someone within it. While all of those things are parts of the film, it does far more than that. In the same fashion that Martin Scorsese did with Goodfellas and Casino, writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson found and brought to the fore the many human elements in such a tale. Not only that, but he imbued the story with so much humor that it's hard not to find yourself smiling and laughing for the majority of the film. Most of the humor, again not unlike Scorsese gangster pictures, comes from the characters not knowing just how dumb they are and sound. Eddie and his fellow porn stars are nearly all very sweet but also very naive, shallow, and oblivious to their own shortcomings in many ways. Maybe it's Reed Rothchild's blatantly false claims about how much weight he can bench-press, or Buck Swope's endless aping of dead fashions, or Eddie's ear-splitting attempts at a music career. In so many ways, these characters make themselves the butt of jokes, thanks to all of them enabling each other and bubbling themselves off from a greater sense of reality. The clueless bumbling is often hilarious.
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| Some of Jack's actors and crew. This group likes to think of themselves as a cool, tight-knit family, but they are nearly all unable or unwilling to take a hard look at themselves or the problematic aspects of their business. |
I don't know if a caveat is necessary for a movie that is more than two decades old, but I should offer one to those who haven't seen the film but are considering watching it: this movie is about the pornographic movie industry. And it doesn't pull too many punches when it comes to sex. While it's not extremely graphic, there is certainly more than a little nudity and even several simulated sex scenes. And it is obviously the background against which the entire story takes place. For those uncomfortable with the sex industry, this movie may be too much to take. However, the film doesn't completely ignore some of the downright immoral and illegal aspects of and people involved with the industry. This gives us a picture that's more complete than just the wild rise and fall of the actors. The character of prime producer and director Jack Horner, portrayed in an Oscar-winning performance by Burt Reynolds, is the clearest example. He does show concern about his actors, to a point. But it's a mistake to see him as some sort of nurturing father-figure, as much as he seems to view himself that way. Ultimately, he's exploiting young people by ignoring their destructive tendencies up to the point that they start biting into his profits. Yes, he gives second chances, enjoys harmony, and wants to make films that have more "story" than your average adult picture. But he also enables his actors' drug habits and self-delusions, never really thinking about whether he is helping them become healthier or not. Some of this is painfully obvious, but much of it is merely implied and easier to miss under the veneer of the "happy family" that we see at the end of the movie.
I have to mention the cast of this movie. Without getting specific, all you need to do it look at a partial list of the top-billed actors: Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Don Cheadle, William H. Macy, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. These are the most prominent (some of them before they were to become even better known for film), but this list gives you some idea of the acting talent present here. It's tough to top, and each and every one of them bring their A-games. This crew could make a bad script with bad direction decent. With Boogie Nights, they made a great script with great direction an all-time great movie.
I doubt that I'll ever get tired of watching this movie. In nearly every way, it's an exemplary piece of film craft. Watching it again has, I think, sparked a desire to go back and re-watch several of Anderson's other movies, just to revel in just how masterful a filmmaker he is, and Boogie Nights is really where he first proved it.
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