Boogie Nights (1997)

By show of hands, faithful readers, who here likes porn?

That's what I thought.

This is the second work from our great, modern auteur, Paul Thomas Anderson. Like Stanley Kubrick before him, the material Anderson has chosen to cover over the years varies widely, and his focus on the great antihero gives his work a dark, powerful edge over other moviemakers. I resent having only been seven years old when "Boogie Nights" premiered; what I would give to have taken Anderson's journey with him, watching his films as they grew and developed as opposed to watching them practically in reverse.

This is the film that rocketed him into stardom. An expose on the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s  and 80s, during the peak of the porn industry. The story follows a young man named Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), a 17-year-old dishwasher with big dreams and a huge...ahem...personality. Spotted in a night club by the great XXX director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds), Eddie is picked up and almost overnight transformed into the next great thing in smut.

Eddie is a completely counterintuitive new member of the world of sex. He is dumber than a sack of hammers, has a winning face, a rock-hard bod and absolutely no shame in whipping it out when asked. Before his discovery he made easy money masturbating for men at his job. But those are not reasons why he seems so out of place. Eddie is absolutely the cutest little ragamuffin, with a soft voice, an easy smile, naivety for days and a genuine caring for his coworkers. In what appears to be the cold, cold world of making hot, hot sex, Eddie is the heart somewhere in between.

This is the story of his rise and fall and rise again. Rechristened Dirk Diggler, I have no doubt that Eddie is metaphorical for Anderson's clever history of the adult entertainment industry, although I admit I don't have the knowledge to support that claim. His film struck me as being very reminiscent of "Pulp Fiction" and "Goodfellas", which no doubt have inspired Anderson, but unlike so many other movies of the 90s it was not a cheap ripoff of Tarantino and Scorsese's ideas. I've been trying to locate where and why I got those ideas and have yet been able to find them.

Anderson's wonderful film crackles with life, humor and heavy drama which it seems to dip in and out of with complete ease. A huge cast of terrific actors acting terrifically coupled with their director's "encyclopedic" knowledge of filmmaking delivers a product which zips along with electric, cocaine energy, kept in time by a full-out disco soundtrack. Its wit is crisp and clean, making a business that many find morally objectionable into something outlandish and occasionally hilarious. There are several moments showing the filming of an erotic scene which left me in stitches. If only some of these great actors made pornos...

Wahlberg does a great job as Eddie/Dirk. I have never been a huge fan of his work excepting "The Fighter", but my mind has been changed. Supporting him are great performances, particularly that of Julianne Moore who plays the actress Amber Waves, the coke-addicted, unofficial mother of all the young folk who float in and out of porn. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, Don Cheadle, Heather Graham and William H. Macy all have small but fantastic roles. Anderson's movie is full of damaged characters, but he skillfully disguises how ruinous the industry has been to them with great humor until the audience is too far along to recognize that the rug has been slowly pulled out from under them.

Before watching this film I had a conversation with a friend who was turned off by the idea of watching a movie about such a topic. After finishing "Boogie Nights" I had a nice sit and think, mulling over his words and determined that such a statement was rather silly. Labeling something as too taboo restricts us from exploring topics and forces us into a self-imposed state of ignorance. I have no intention of being an ignorant person. Anderson's movie is great and handles the content with the grace and respect we deserve while still being biting enough to show what he wanted to say. Is porn good or bad? That's irrelevant. The bigger question is the porn industry good or bad? That's too black and white. In the end, sex is natural and violence is not, yet we make a far bigger commotion when a breast or penis is shown than when a man is shot in the face. I say good for you, Paul! Tear down those ignorant walls and show us all of Wahlberg's 13 inch glory! I personally found the topic utterly fascinating.

And by the way, ladies, it's fake. I did my research.

4/4