Boogie Nights (1997) Review - Director Series
We used to give promising auteurs money to make a passion project after a promising first feature. Now we force them into IP hell. We used to be a proper country. Some people come up at the perfect time.
Paul Thomas Anderson is one of those lucky ones, as are we, because if he had made Hard Eight 10 years ago, he would’ve been forced to make an Avengers movie. Instead of one of his masterpieces.
While working on Hard Eight, PTA was hard at work on another script based on his short film he made in High School, The Dirk Diggler Story, told in a mockumentary style.
Boogie Nights follows Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), who has a special gift. Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) recognizes that gift. Jack brings Eddie into the world of the 1970s L.A. Porn scene. Eddie becomes Dirk Diggler and becomes the somebody he always knew he’d become.
The script was noticed by New Line Cinema producer Mike De Luca, who flipped for the script. Anderson still had conflicts with the studio; maybe he was young and naïve to think they let him do whatever he wanted. He wanted the film to be over three hours and NC-17. The studio made him choose either over three hours or NC-17, not both.
Anderson didn’t want a commercial film, real Gen-Xer energy. Well, he lost on all three counts.
The film comes in at just over 150 minutes, with an R-rating, and was a critical and commercial success, even leading to three Oscar nominations.
Supporting Oscar nominations for Burt Reynolds and Julianne Moore, as well as one for Paul Thomas Anderson himself for Original Screenplay.
There’s an argument that all three should’ve won. As well as a better argument that this film should have had closer to 9-10 Oscars.
Moore lost to Kim Basinger for L.A. Confidential, a great film with an ok supporting turn by Kim. Moore is incredible as Amber Waves and wouldn’t have to wait 17 years for her Oscar moment.
Reynolds and PTA lost to Good Will Hunting. Robin Williams in supporting, and Matt and Ben in Original Screenplay.
These are harder cases to fight for. I’m glad I wasn’t an Oscar voter in 1998 because I don’t know if I could’ve chosen between Burt and Robin.
Reynolds plays Jack Horner with emotional depth. Always in control of every moment. The ultimate patriarch, who lost people flock to for guidance.
Burt commands the screen with silence, showing us, not telling us, why these people would gravitate to him.
It leads to the film’s final moment where we, as the audience, follow Jack as he walks through his house, asking or telling each person something to do.
Everyone knows the story that Leo was the first choice, but he passed for Titanic. He helped PTA in choosing Mark Wahlberg, the obvious better choice.
Mark has this quality of seeming stupid, but in a charming way. His Dirk is dopey, dumb, but lovable. Perfect for the Dirk character and a quality I don’t think Leo has.
He’s the perfect lost lamb to join Jack’s flock. As I said in my Hard Eight review, a running theme in PTA’s films is lost people looking for a found family. This theme is most prevalent in Boogie Nights.
Something I noticed on this watch is the sense of nostalgia PTA captures in this film. There are eras in our lives (1970s in this film) in which things are great and seemingly will never end. However, inevitably, these times come to an end and things change (1980s).
In the end, when things come back to “normal” again, all the parts of the 1970s are there, but things aren’t the same; they’ll never be as good as they once were.
Paul Thomas Anderson grows exponentially from his first feature to his sophomore effort. All directors have influences, and their early films show these influences, with homages or direct rip-offs of their favorite films.
What makes a great director is the ability to take their influences and give their own spin on them. This film feels like a collaborative effort between Scorsese and Altman. The sprawling cast and multiple storylines, the wall-to-wall soundtrack, the whip pans and quick cuts.
But it never feels like a Goodfellas rip-off, and many films are just bargain-basement Scorsese. PTA, Tarantino, Nolan, Gerwig, Peele, they all show influence throughout their films, but make it enough their own to make them feel original.
I still can’t believe PTA was 26 when he made this film. The closest we’ve come to having this kind of wunderkind since him is Damien Chazelle.
Proving so much so young leads to his biggest “blank check” yet with his next film, which helps bring him back down to earth and learn some much-needed lessons, young, so he can go make some of his other masterpieces.
I say other because after watching this for the thousandth time, I believe this is a masterpiece. One of his four? Maybe five if you catch me on the right day.
P.S. – 800 words in and I didn’t even touch on my favorite scene with an all-time great one-scene performance by Alfred Molina.
The major wake-up call Dirk needs to go back to Jack and get his life on track before a cracked-out Molina in red undies and a silver robe murders him. Molina should’ve had a Best Supporting Actor nomination.
MOTORING!
5/5 Stars
