September 25, 2002
Boogie Nights
One of the "hottest" directors around today is
Paul Thomas Anderson, and he first made his mark
with Boogie Nights, a story of the porn industry at
the dawn of the video age in the late 1970s. It really isn't about
adult films as it is about the way it uses and abuses the people
involved at all ends of the system. It is about the rise (ooh, it is
hard to avoid double entendres with a movie like this:-) to stardom, and
preciptious fall of Dirk Diggler, adult film star. It is a story
loosely based on the life of legendary porn actor John Holmes, who died of AIDS
after battling a drug addiction.
Eddie Adams, played by Mark Wahlberg, is an aimless teenager looking to make his mark on the world. Like he says, we all have a talent, and his is sex. He meets Jack Horner, adult film producer played by Burt Reynolds with appropriate parts sincerity and sliminess (although he tried to disown his part in the movie), who promises to make him a star. Eddie changes his name to Dirk Diggler and shoots to the top of the industry. But he gets too full of himself, drugs and bad friends, and eventually falls on hard times. By the end of the film, he is back in the industry trying to make a comeback.
All in all, I was disappointed in the movie. It seemed to mine familiar territory, reminding me a little of Traffic, in that it sets up all these straw people to play with without giving them any soul. None of the characters seemed very real, more like dolls for the movie to put into strange situation, whether it be discretely filmed sex scenes, to doing drugs, to heart break, like when one of the porn actresses tried to get custody of her son from her divorced husband, and gets shot down by the judge (played by former adult film star Verionica Hart!). Or when another acting couple get turned down by the bank when they try to finance their store. It's all just a little too trite.
The DVD is a nice production. They do a great job of recreating the 70s, from hair and fashion to dances and disco, which makes it a hoot. There's plenty of 70s dance hits, like Fly Robin Fly and You Sexy Thing, as well as 70s pop hits like Afternoon Delight (of course!) and 99 Luftballoons. It's probably a pretty interesting soundtrack CD! At least it would be better than this movie.
Buy Boogie Nights (2-Disc Special Edition) from DVDPlanet
William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, Heather Graham, Burt Reynolds, Nina Hartley, Mark Wahlberg, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, Thomas Jane, John Doe, Philip Baker Hall, Alfred Molina, Ricky Jay, Luis Guzman
Hardcore porn auteur Jack Horner is the patriarch of a production company riding the success of star/earth mother Amber Waves and young stud Dirk Diggler. Posted by jdarnold at September 25, 2002 9:19 AM
