0
0
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights is an intense but eye-opening work that tells a standard Hollywood story but on the other side of the tracks. Not the tracks of Hollywood stardom but the side of the world of pornography. Surprisingly, Boogie Nights is more of a classic Hollywood story than a pornography. Don’t worry, it still has the sex and fame of pornography but also a more intriguing story on the temptations of stardom. The temptations of fame, money, drugs, ego, and changing of the times. One will become so immersed in the story that you forget you are watching a movie about porn but the crazy cast of characters and the lives they live through as everyday people.
Let’s be real and honest here. We all have watched some type of porn in our lives. It’s pretty natural now to watch porn. Who doesn’t have a favorite porn star that they like to watch? My back in the day girl was Tera Patrick. She was my all-time favorite. How about Lisa Ann? The list can go on and on with the likes of Gianna Michaels, Asa Akira, or even former porn stars Nina Hartley (who appears in the movie) or Jayden Jaymes. No matter who, we live in America and “Sex Sells.” Pornography definitely sells.
Let me drop some knowledge about the pornography industry before we set into this review. Give you a little idea about how much “sex sells.” 1) There are 13,000 adult videos produced annually, amassing over $13 billion in profit. In comparison, Hollywood released 507 movies and made only $8.8 billion. That’s a lot of porn videos. 2) The porn industry makes more money than the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and Major League Baseball combined and more than NBC, CBS, and ABC combined. The industry also has more substantial revenues than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple, and Netflix combined. Damn, that is some revenue right there. The final crazy stat for pornography is that every 39 minutes, a new porn film is created in the United States. That is a lot of porn being made a day. How does that industry think of so many storylines?
Boogie Nights tells the story of several characters but mostly revolves around the life of a young kid named Eddie Adams (Wahlberg). In 1977, when the disco era is riding high as a kite, Adams is working as a dishwasher in a Hollywood nightclub. Dude was scrubbing those dishes and was cool with it. Eventually, Adams’ life changes when he meets legendary porn director Jack Horner (Reynolds). Horner wants to show his masterpiece by showing his films in theaters. Yep, back in the day, porn in theaters wasn’t that bad. Horner seeing the potential and the next star in Adams, invites him to his place to perform. Adams literary has sex with a girl right in front of Horner like it was nothing. Adams performing as he knows best soon becomes “Dirk Diggler” and a rising star of porn films. As Dirk’s career takes off, he meets new people in the business. Dirk meets actress Amber Waves (Moore), who acts as the mother figure to the group in the absence of being a real mother to her biological son. Actor Reed Rothchild (Reilly), who has this vast competitive streak on being the best. Black actor Buck Swope (Cheadle), who works as a stereo salesman part-time while having an extreme love for the country & western style. Actress Rollergirl (Graham), a high school drop-out who never takes off her skates. Finally, there is the assistant director “Little” Bill (Macy), whose marriage is a disaster as his wife pretty much screws anything under the sun. Life is riding high until the turn of the decade when the 80s come around. Life becomes hard for all the characters as the once happy life now is a nightmare.
The primary area that needs to be discussed is the story of Boogie Nights. It is a story that had me go, “Oh Damn!” Not in a wrong way but in a way that made me feel for the characters and realize that what they went through is the same as any significant star might go through. The movie is literally a standard Hollywood story. I felt like I was watching some movie star’s lives. A story about their incredible rise to fame, then falling on hard times, where you’re like, “What the hell happened to them,” to ultimately making a resurgence and being the star that they once were. Anderson gives a masterful direction by placing everyone in the world of pornography rather than Hollywood, but with pornography being a significant aspect and influence on everyone’s life in a positive and negative way. Anderson holds nothing back with the criticism that the actors get from being porn stars. Several examples of this are when Moore’s character is going through a divorce. Her being in porn ultimately haunts her as she tries hard to get custody of her child. Also, Cheadle’s character wants to open up a stereo shop, but his loan application is declined because he works in porn. Each character soon learns that being in porn can have a drawback from their dreams. Anderson does a great job of setting the movie in the 70s during the Golden Age of Porn. Where disco and lifestyle were riding high, the girls look so natural and beautiful, without significant amounts of plastic surgery with the big hair.
You get DEEP into the problems and troubles of the characters. Anderson shows a world and industry that has to evolve with the times and the resistance that people do just to keep the way things are. For the actual story, the main character is a young man who enters the world of sex and adult entertainment. Anderson hides the aspect of how big his package is. No matter when he is performing, you never know how “well hung” this character is. During one scene at a pool party at Jack’s house, Dirk meets the businessman named the Colonel, who helps finance all of Jack’s films. During the scene, the Colonel asks to see Dirk’s manhood, which he agrees to. The camera stays on the Colonel’s face as he looks with a stiff, unsure, little smile. Anderson holds the camera on the face, making you wonder how big the dude’s package is. Anderson slowly evolves the Diggler’s character from a man who is naïve to being caught up in the excitement and lifestyle that he loves. He buys fancy clothes and cars while winning tons of awards. He becomes a HUGE star (no pun intended). Yet, his fall begins when he starts doing cocaine.
As Kevin Hart said, “You know, smack, white girl, boogaloo!” The effects are significant on Diggler as he can’t perform anymore, along with feeling threaten by a new, young, hotshot actor. His world starts to crumble, and you see it. As the late, great Rick James said, “Cocaine is a hell of a drug.” Even Horner goes through his troubles. As the trend of porn going to videotape is fast approaching, he believes that people will still want to see porn in theaters. He resists as the new trend of porn and what it looks like takes hold until he finally gives up and tries to do what the latest trend is.
The acting from several people was excellent. This was a coming-out film for Mark Wahlberg and establish him as a film actor. He will always be known for Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch song, “Good Vibrations.” If you never heard it, it is a classic. Back to this movie, Wahlberg takes the role of Eddie and runs with it. Sometimes he is over the top with his acting, but it is believable for his character. The scene when his mother throws him out is pretty hilarious. That was one scene where I was like, “a little over dramatic there man. Stop doing that sad man run.” Overall, Wahlberg does a good job with Eddie. Turning the character from a naive dishwasher to an international porn star.
Julianne Moore’s role as porn actress Amber Waves was very commendable. Moore seems so raw and genuine in her role as the mother figure of the entire group. As her personal life is crumbling, Moore makes Amber seem like nothing is wrong with always partying and doing her job. Yet deep inside, she is a very flawed person. Turning to drugs to hide the fact that she is going through a divorce and will lose her child. Moore shows Amber as the loving mother figure for everyone. Whether it is consoling Eddie or Roller girl. She displays the love of a mother splendidly while staying neutral in significant situations.
Praise must be given to the late and great Burt Reynolds. Reynolds won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and he deserved it. Reynolds as Jack Horner was great as he played the character with such calmness and didn’t command the screen. Whenever Reynolds appeared on screen, you just knew that the dude was so cool and that father’s presence. He knew what he wanted and saw the potential in people. Reynolds showed it significantly. Some scenes where Reynolds had to switch the cool Horner was when he was in the limo, making a video. The dude disrespected his girl, and he beats him up dearly. Yet, you watch and are like, “Yep, he deserved that ass-whippin. Should’ve taken off the belt.”
Boogie Nights is a film that does its job in presenting the world to porn and the actors involved in it. While sex sells, the movie keeps sex to a minimum and shows a world just like many other actors and actresses. The rise, fall, and redemption of a career in film. Paul Thomas Anderson went out of his way to make us feel for the characters and not the environment that they are in. Anderson makes you almost realize that the characters don’t really like sex but the fame that comes with it. With that fame, a price must be given up. Whether it is your personal life or your health. Something always has a price.
