Image by Thanks for your Like • donations welcome from Pixabay I have already shared my unexpected admiration for one of P.T. Anderson’s films listed in the book “1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die” by Steven Jay Schneider: There Will Be Blood. And with the release of Anderson’s newest film, Licorice Pizza, this weekend, I thought I’d do the same with another one of his movies: Boogie Nights, the 1997 period dramedy starring Mark Wahlberg.
[NOTE: This blog will contain spoilers for “Boogie Nights.” You have been warned.] The History P.T. Anderson’s inspiration for Boogie Nights came largely from a 1981 documentary about adult film star John Holmes. As a senior in high school, Anderson gathered members of his extended friend circle such as Michael Stein and Eddie Dalcour to star in a mockumentary based on the Holmes documentary. Narrated by Anderson’s father Ernie, this 1988 short film was titled The Dirk Diggler Story. According to Anderson, the short film was positively received by an audience at the University of Southern California. During production troubles on his feature directorial debut, Hard Eight, Anderson completed a screenplay that expanded on the story of his short film. He originally envisioned Leonardo DiCaprio (Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, The Wolf of Wall Street) in the lead role, but he was forced to turn it down due to his commitment to starring in James Cameron’s romantic historical epic Titanic. However, DiCaprio liked Anderson’s screenplay and recommended Mark Wahlberg (The Departed, The Other Guys) for the role despite Wahlberg’s relative lack of acting experience. Several actors were considered for the supporting role of Jack Horner, from Bill Murray (Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Lost in Translation) to Harvey Keitel (Taxi Driver, Bugsy, The Irishman), before the role went to the late Burt Reynolds (The Longest Yard, Smokey and the Bandit) which ended up reviving his career. However, there has been some confusion regarding Reynolds’s views on the film and his participation in it. Contemporary reports claimed that Reynolds and Anderson had a strenuous partnership during filming, and that after seeing a rough cut of the film Reynolds supposedly fired his agent. He declined to be in Anderson’s next film, Magnolia, but in later years has referred to the film as “extraordinary” and said that his opinion of Anderson does not color his view of the film. Filmed on a budget of 15 million dollars, Boogie Nights premiered in October of 1997 and went on to gross nearly triple its budget. Critics praising the film at the time singled out the performances of Wahlberg as Dirk Diggler, Reynolds as Jack Horner, and Julianne Moore as Amber Waves. They also singled out the skilled production design managing to capture the 1970s so accurately, and many applauded the film’s themes and character work. At the Academy Awards that year, both Reynolds and Moore were nominated for their performances (but did not win) and Anderson was nominated for Best Original Screenplay (but did not win). The Pros In my blog about my second-favorite P.T. Anderson film, There Will Be Blood, I praised the director’s deliberate pacing that kept me engaged without ever feeling withdrawn or disinterested. Not many films can succeed like this, but Daniel Day-Lewis and the supporting cast around him (notably Paul Dano) pull off this feat seemingly effortlessly. But Anderson approached Boogie Nights differently, and that is one of the film’s biggest strengths. In telling the story of up-and-coming porn star Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg), Anderson captures the “rise-and-fall” ambience that has become synonymous with many of the best films of Martin Scorsese such as Goodfellas, Casino, and The Wolf of Wall Street. It is his direction, in tandem with Wahlberg’s charisma and the rest of the cast’s commitment to their particular parts of Diggler’s ascension to stardom, that excels in putting the audience in that character’s shoes so intimately. And within a world so unfamiliar to most, at that. Beyond the pacing, Boogie Nights transports the viewer to southern California in the 1970s to great effect. Not once watching the film was I taken out of the moment in terms of the historical and social setting. In fact, I found myself fascinated by the world of the “Golden Age of Porn” and its wacky character archetypes in a way that few films like it can do. I particularly appreciated how the supporting performances from John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, Heather Graham, and Philip Seymour Hoffman offer alternative (albeit minimal) perspectives on that world to keep the narrative refreshing and diverse. While I really liked Wahlberg’s character and performance, I am glad that his lens was not the only one the audience had to look at this world through. But, when it comes to what I like most about Boogie Nights, it is unquestionably the story of Dirk Diggler. Not only does Wahlberg give what is arguably his best performance of his acting career, but Anderson’s screenplay never relents or loses steam from start to finish. We are forcefully propelled into Diggler’s insanely chaotic world and, from one scene to another, are consistently stunned and surprised by the incredible ups and downs of his journey. Eventually, we are numbed to the chaos but not to the point that the film loses its effect. Quite the opposite, in fact; we begin asking ourselves how this story and this world could ever feel “normal” to those who do not know it in real life? And that, in my humble opinion, is the greatest compliment that I can pay to the story that Anderson set out to tell in Boogie Nights. Rather than keeping the audience at arms-length throughout the runtime, we are made a part of the chaos so as to fully understand (at least to the best that vicarious experiences such as movies can do) what it’s like to be a rising porn star. How could a movie get more entertaining than that? The Cons Admittedly, I have little critiques of Boogie Nights so these might sound a bit nitpicky. What primarily comes to mind is the one scene of the movie where I felt the pace slowed down to a rather frustrating halt, and it just so happens to be one of its more notorious scenes. What is arguably the climax of the film, the scene in question is when Diggler, Reed Rothchild (Reilly), and Todd Parker (Thomas Jane) attempt to scam low-level drug dealer Rahad Jackson (Alfred Molina) by selling him a half-kilo of baking soda disguised as cocaine. While I appreciate what Anderson was going for with the scene in terms of ratcheting up the tension with the constant throwing of firecrackers by Rahad’s skinny friend Cosmo (Joe G.M. Chan) and the “no-shit-we’re-guilty” faces on Diggler and his crew, it just felt over the top for this film (and that’s saying something!). I don’t hate it, but it’s a scene that’s bothered me since I first watched it as it comes off as a noticeable weak spot in what is otherwise a well-paced and well-structured narrative. At the movie’s end, I was also longing for something like a believable redemption for Diggler (particularly regarding his relationship with Burt Reynolds’ character Jack Horner) which Anderson showed me but never fully convinced me that their restored respect for each other was genuine. Again, something of a nitpick but worth mentioning if you’re worried about the film ending in a fully satisfying way. So, what are my final impressions of Boogie Nights? Despite some of its minor flaws, it is not only my favorite P.T. Anderson film but also one of my favorite films of the 1990s. Its story, acting, and world building rarely (if ever) disappoints in showing off many of Anderson’s best directorial qualities. But it’s also a surprisingly accessible film despite its subject matter and the fact that it’s one of Anderson’s earlier films (in other words, don’t watch Boogie Nights and then expect the same kind of movie from Magnolia 😊). What are your thoughts on P.T. Anderson’s Boogie Nights? What other movies of his do you recommend? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst
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Austin McManusI have no academic or professional background in film production or criticism; I simply love watching and talking about movies. Archives
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