Review : 'Boogie Nights' (1997)

“Dirk Diggler’s penis looked like it was made out of clay”, said my very good friend Mike when I lent him Boogie Nights, recorded on to a 180 minute VHS (in long play for added value) from Sky Premiere (channel 301 on Sky Digital) back in 1999. I saw Boogie Nights in the same month I also saw Goodfellas for the first time, the latter instantly becoming my very favourite film and remaining there to this very day. The parallels between the 2 films are plentiful, with many scenes from Scorsese’s gangster opus paid loving homage to.

The story of a young, strangely innocent young man with a large, dynamic appendage and his rise and fall (baha) in the porn industry shouldn’t be as likeable, funny, moving and human as it is, but somehow it manages to make me laugh and cry. Part of this is Paul Thomas Anderson’s incredibly witty screenplay, full of intelligent, believable dialogue and beautifully drawn characters. A few characters only feature in a handful of scenes yet are as 3-dimensional as many leads. The most notable of these almost-cameo roles is William H Macy as the downtrodden husband of a guilt-free promiscuous porn actress. In 3 short scenes we practically see his entire life. Paul Thomas Anderson directs with aplomb, the 2 and a half hour run time never dragging. The ambitiously big story, spanning nearly 10 years and covering the intertwining tales of over 10 main characters, moves with real pace. The stand-out sequence has a pulsing-beat relentlessly playing in the background as 3 separate stories play out while the characters all hit rock bottom.

Boogie Nights' success as a film though would not exist without its incredible cast. A finer ensemble would be hard to find, with each character delicately and realistically played. For example, how easy it would have been for Don Cheadle’s ‘cowboy’ porn star to have been a hilarious cartoon. However, he plays the part believably, managing to be as endearing as he is ridiculous.

Mark Wahlberg, as Dirk Diggler, the young bar-worker-turned-porn-mega-star, is very impressive. He has the easy, naive charm required of the character aged 17 and then the brattish, drug-addled ego-mania behaviour needed several years later. Dirk is unknowingly very funny and Wahlberg never plays lines for laughs, always completely natural, even when delivering 70s porn dialogue in the not-quite-parody porn scenes. Most impressive of all, in the film's climax (har har), the camera lingers on his face for over a minute in a single shot and, barely moving a muscle, Wahlberg ups the tension 10 fold. It has to be seen to be believed. John C Reilly and Phillip Seymour Hoffman are brilliant as Dirk’s best friends. Heather Graham, as young high-school dropout porn star Rollergirl (“I never take my skates off”) has never been better on screen. She is in many ways Dirk’s female equivalent. Julianne Moore in a somewhat matriarchal role, acting as a sort of mother to Dirk  and Rollergirl as she performs alongside them, is heartbreaking. A mess, addicted to cocaine and estranged from her young children, you really get the sense that she wants to be a better person. 

The real star of this show though is Burt Reynolds in what was heralded as one of the greatest comebacks since Elvis. Rightly Oscar-nominated, as the porn-director who discovers Dirk, he is subtle brilliance. Quietly creating an air of authority and dignity over what easily could have been grubby proceedings, he gives the film part of its real heart together with Wahlberg. The final scene between the two of them is documentary-real, genuinely one of the most moving moments in modern cinema.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, another ensemble drama, is often cited as his masterpiece but I much prefer Boogie Nights. With its stellar cast, stunning script and fearlessly feel-good ending it is certainly one of the best films of 90s.