Boogie Nights

For this whole month, I will look at some of the popular films starring Mark Wahlberg. Let’s get things started by reviewing the 1997 film, “Boogie Nights.”

This movie might start some controversy, but then it might not. Jeffrey M. Anderson said in his review, “For a movie about the porn industry it seemed pretty tame to me.” The excellent cast includes Mark Wahlberg as “Dirk Diggler,” a dishwasher-turned adult actor, Burt Reynolds as Jack Horner, the father figure director who makes him a star, and Julianne Moore as the experienced adult actress who teaches Dirk everything. This is one of the best Burt Reynolds movies. Anderson noted, “He shows a father's iron will and uninhibited love for his "family," and those feelings seep through to the audience.”

A whole cast of eccentrics (Don Cheadle, William H. Macy, Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Robert Downey Sr. (Robert Downey Jr.’s father), Phillip Seymore Hoffman, Alfred Molina, and Heather Graham as “Rollergirl” – all excellent) are over this trip. Actually, if it weren’t for the adult stuff, drugs, violence, this would be a good movie to let kids see. It’s all about belonging, and sticking with your family.

“Boogie Nights” is packed with pop songs from that time. Anderson said, “Ordinarily, this is a cop-out; a movie like Forrest Gump merely parades the top songs from the years it passes through, but Anderson exhibits a little more care in his choices. These songs are particularly bad and obscure nuggets, some of which are thematically connected with their scenes. (Rollergirl "auditions" Dirk to the tune of Melanie's "Brand New Key"!) Anderson keeps the music moving almost non-stop throughout the movie, leaving little time for an overpowering score, often the undoing of many Hollywood films.”

Paul Thomas Anderson, the movie’s 26-year-old writer and director, has made a smart script with a great cast of characters and believable dialogue. As a director, he borrows somewhat from Scorsese, De Palma, Altman, and Tarantino, but he shows a confidence and energy of his own. During a great part involving a drug-dealer, he throws us off by having one character throw lit firecrackers around the room, while a 1980s mix tape plays full blast.

Anderson ended his review by saying, “If Anderson's enthusiasm sustains as he matures, we can look forward to some great films in the future.”

Word of advice: if you want to watch this movie, make sure that it’s not with any parents walking around the house. If you’re living on your own, great, but if you’re living with parents, find a room for yourself to watch it because they may not like any of the stuff that are shown in the movie. Other than that, it’s a nice movie to see because it really shows the adult industry in a way that we have not seen it portrayed, if it has been portrayed in film.

Look out next week when I continue “Mark Wahlberg Month” with a film that I don’t think gets looked at enough.