Boogie Nights (1997)reviewed by Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
"Boogie Nights" is a fictional telling of the late seventies/early eighties pornographic movie industry. It follows a young rising star in Eddie, played by Mark Wahlberg (Three Kings), who eventually adopts the screen name Dirk Diggler. Eventually, we watch Dirk's rise into popularity, his drug abuse and inevitably his burn out. The film also follows the plights of director Jack Horner, played by Burt Reynolds (The Longest Yard), as he fights to remain working in film rather than switching to videotape. We also watch the dreams and development of supporting characters working with Dirk. The greatest strength of this movie is its order of inevitability, and its sense of history. It excels at showing the development of how such movies were being made and how they evolved into what most people may see today. It also shows how dangerous a time it was, with the multitude of drugs and disease, for young men and women to work in adult films. Reynolds and actress Julianne Moore (The Forgotten) both receive Academy Award® nominations for this movie, and Wahlberg did fine in trying to carry the picture as well. Moore's character was loosely based on porn vixen Nina Hartley, who actually makes a cameo role in the movie as the openly unfaithful wife of William H. Macy (Fargo). Everyone else like Macy, Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda), John C. Reilly (Chicago) and Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) did exceptional in their parts, and let's not forgot the best dumb blonde performance for the year going to Heather Graham (Sidewalks of New York). Graham performed every scene she had on roller skates. Tough stuff. The worst part of the movie was the length. It runs 2 hours, 36 minutes and it sure feels like it. As we get into what each actor is trying to do after the fallout between Dirk and Horner, the film DRAGS tremendously, so much that it keeps the film from being great and leaving it at simply okay. Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love) did one great and bold move. He made SUCH an ongoing deal about how big the size of Dirk's package was, the viewer can't help but wonder how big could it be? In the end, the final shot of the film, Anderson has Wahlberg pull it out and stand before a mirror saying "You're a star, You're a star." I'm sure Wahlberg got a lot of dates after that shot, even though his manhood was a prosthetic. The movie is fictional, but resembles Holmes life in a nutshell; however, there is a lot about Holmes which the movie didn't show, like his career in gay porn and his direct involvement in the Wonderland murders. Overall, "Boogie Nights" has merit, but it's not for everyone to see. It's super long, but highly interesting. I think you just have to be in the right mood to tackle the material. I'm glad Anderson found that mood and made the picture anyway. Benn - Where's the Humanity?
This is an interesting fictional telling of the story of porn star John Holmes, and as well made as it is, my God it is LONG!