Written by: PBF
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights is inspired by, loosely based on or whatever you want to call it, the life of porn star John Holmes (at times, it even directly lifts dialogue from interviews with Holmes that appeared in a later documentary in which featured Anderson) . While the two are similar, it is more so a fictitious depiction of the lives of some folks in the porn industry during the 70s and 80s. It does have some true elements to it, such as the movement to get porn to convert from film to videotape. Ultimately, it is an examination of several people’s lives as they move in and out of the adult film world.
The main story of this film revolves around Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), a 17 year old who works at a car wash by day and a nightclub at…well, night. Eddie believes that everyone has one special thing that they are blessed with. His special thing happens to be a penis that hangs around 13 inches or so. The particular nightclub that he works for, happens to be frequented by a porn director, Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds). Jack convinces Eddie to come to his home and ultimately audition for him by having sex with Rollergirl (Heather Graham). He changes his name to Dirk Diggler and as he becomes a star in the adult film world, much like a rock star, the more money he makes, the more ego, drugs and recklessness consume him. We witness an engrossing journey of a young man as he tries to handle the pressure of fame and people’s fascination with large appendages.
In addition to this main story, the film is comprised of many vignettes that focus on the lives of other characters (porn actors/crew). Reed Rothchild (John C. Reilly) is a magician, Buck Swope (Don Cheadle) wants to open an electronics store and struggles to find his identity, Little Bill (William H. Macy) is constantly walking in on his wife fucking someone else, and many other stories. While vignettes are naturally isolated, P.T.A. does quite an excellent job of wandering between the straightforward narrative in to a vignette and then back.
Every single person in this film is excellent. Everyone has a very natural, and at times almost improvisational delivery of their dialogue that is quite pleasing. John C. Reilly gives his best performance in this film. At his first appearance he does his “ham and cheese” routine but as the film progresses, he demonstrates that he is actually quite gifted beyond being a staple in an Adam McKay project (although I am fine with that). In particular, there is a scene in which Dirk, Reed and their fellow drug addict Todd (Thomas Jane) attempt to rob a drug dealer. All three of them are quite brilliant in this scene as they react to multiple nerve wracking occurrences. There is a moment in which Wahlberg is staring off and the camera lingers on him for what seems like an eternity and there is absolutely no indication of what he is thinking about (although you can infer many things). It is just as hypnotic for the viewer as it seems to be for Diggler.
Anderson’s direction is very satisfying. He goes for the handheld camera and it works quite well, especially as we follow people from behind as they walk. His script is also filled with delightful subtleties that couples with the camera work, make it seem like a documentary rather than a scripted film.
I can’t really say a negative thing about this film. Puck would delight in that Julianne Moore is also in it, and her performance is just as great as everyone else’s. A truly brilliant film indeed.
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