Boogie Nights: Classic or Dud

this film is golden.

I hope you're talking about There Will Be Blood.

giving it some ten-years-on love.

it is very good

i'm going to re-screen 'magnolia'.

not yet seen that one, may have a look to see if it's lying around

Heather Graham is some kind of genius.

real heavy reliance on the soundtrack to carry a lot of the weight

i had this problem with 'singin in the rain'.

Mark Wahlberg and Julianne Moore have gone on to give better performances.

Julianne Moore gave better performances before Nights imo, her big scene in Short Cuts for one.

i don't think either of those assertions change the fact that they're both rocking the shit in 'boogie nights'.

Indeed. Moore should've won every award in existence for that movie.

Julianne Moore gave better performances before Nights imo

You didn't even mention Safe!

OK, so I saw Boogie Nights last night after someone told me that it's better than There Will Be Blood.

• Wowing at the choice of camera shots. What can I say, I love a long tracking shot, Scorcese-ripped or not.
• Loved the disco dance sequence, like the whole world is dancing to Mark Wahlberg's tune.
• Also loved MW's ever-changing accent. Actually, all the principles were great. Apart from Heather Graham who I feel was found out, although the scene with her in the car near the end making the cheap porn film was really well done in how emaciated and drug-addled she looked.
• JM does a really good job of acting like she's on coke.

oral history
http://grantland.com/features/boogie-nights/

William H. Macy
Little Bill
Paul and I were having lunch, shooting the breeze, this young girl who weighed about 90 pounds soaking wet sat beside us, and she was from the porn industry. And she says to Paul, “Can I ask you a professional question?” He says, sure. She says, “You’ve seen me in these scenes; you’ve seen what I can do. In your professional opinion, should I go legit or should I go anal?”

i like this movie a lot but last time i watched it i kept wished it had just committed to being a comedy and cut out all of the 80s stuff besides singing the transformers song and the firecracker scene.

and the last scene of course.

thanks for the link

I really love this movie but I once fell asleep while watching it and had some really fucked up nightmares about it

that oral history was a delight.

thanks for posting

i read the oral history the other day, and then i stayed up into the wee hours of last night reading this annotated history of mike sager's rolling stone piece on the wonderland murders.

http://niemanstoryboard.org/stories/annotation-tuesday-the-porn-star-and-mike-sager/

how could such a massively pretentious film "commit to being a comedy"?

you answered your own question

Also: Sydney Pollack was PTA's first choice for Jack Horner. Warren Beatty too (he wanted to play Diggler though).

i can totally see pollack in it, not sure beatty, it'd prob change the character somewhat

lol @ the idea of leo and barrymore as diggler and rollergirl

Warren Beatty too (he wanted to play Diggler though).

lol I thought you were joking!

can see Pollack being good, but Reynolds is more genuinely porn-y

lol <3

Paul really wanted “Livin’ Thing” as the song at the end of the movie. He was really, really nervous to show the film to Jeff Lynne, but Jeff came down to a screening and Paul was just sort of watching the back of his head while he was watching the movie. Then the film ends and “Livin’ Thing” comes on and Paul just sees both Jeff Lynne’s arms shoot up triumphantly.

Luis Guzmán
Maurice TT Rodriguez
We went to the shoot in a production van. We got out and we walked into the house. They said, “Be very quiet,” and they sent us up to a balcony. “You can watch from here.” There’s a guy and he’s banging this chick. The next thing you know, the guy looks up at the balcony, and he points to me. He yells up, “Hey, I know you!” I go, “That’s fucked up.” Next thing you know, he goes limp.

Watching for the first time now - what a JAM this movie is, so much more satisfying than "Magnolia"

Yes--but I'm going to vote for John C. Reilly's Magnolia performance in a poll I put up earlier today. I think he's just great in that.

Okay, Now You’re Talkin’ Above My Head: the John C. Reilly Poll

I hope God forgives Mark Wahlberg for saying that he hopes God forgives him for “Boogie Nights.”

— Glenn Kenny (@Glenn__Kenny) October 24, 2017

The devil has all the best poons iirc

ha just watching this again. great movie and posters itt saying it is a comedy are otm, it is a hilarious movie

one thing that struck me this time around, i find it hard to believe dirk diggler doesn't do coke until 1980. three years in the biz w/ this crew before he does coke?!!??

ha I'd never thought of that but now that you mention it that does seem... odd

also I was wrong here:

But the Scorsese films that PTA copped from for Boogie Nights (primarily Raging Bull and Goodfellas) are not broadly comic in the way Boogie Nights is.

cuz I laughed *a lot* when I recently got to see Goodfellas in a theatre. It's a different kind of funny tho, even if Scorsese and PTA both generally disdain the characters in their respective films (or at least see them as ridiculous)

yea goodfellas is also hilarious

also is there an authoritative list somewhere of films that start in a happy and glamorous 1970s that descend into darkness and dread once 1980 hits? (or 60s into 70s...)

that's gonna be a long list

feel like the 90s-00s transition would also easily fit that dramatic bill (Dubya and 9/11 were such a grim 1-2 punch) but I can't think of any films that have covered that era

ha I'd never thought of that but now that you mention it that does seem... odd

They really play up his innocence, all things considered. He's just a larky kid from the valley up for a little fun. It's not until things start to go bad that things go off the rails, so to speak.

Wahlberg has a few notable roles where he plays an innocent and it's always naaaah

(xpost) Not nearly as good, and it's a year out of sync, but Star 80 fits the '70s-'80s divide--brutally so. A lot of '60s-'70s examples, probably.

I'm curious about that film but it seems like such a grim watch, I haven't been able to bring myself to rent it

Yeah, I can't in any conscience recommend it. I like it more than most people, if "like" is the right word--there's a great roller-disco scene to "Sing Sing Sing," and Hemingway and Roberts are good--but it's nauseating at times.

Wahlberg has a few notable roles where he plays an innocent and it's always naaaah

he is fantastic in The Big Hit (and in this)

Oh I love it I just never buy it

I wish the Grantland oral history had more about Moore and Graham, how they felt about making the movie, how they felt about its success. Moore being uncomfortable is alluded to a couple times, it sounds like Graham maybe enjoyed things a bit more, which makes sense.

This PTA interview with a young excited brilliant director with a mouth full of pizza is great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99jnnJQJF0Q

Obviously he was primarily an important, fearless filmmaker but Robert Downey Sr.'s cameo in Boogie Nights is one of the best and most quotable parts of one of the best and most quotable movies ever made. https://t.co/F7Pepq6GLh

— Nathan Rabin (@nathanrabin) July 7, 2021

When someone says that Boogie Nights is one of the best movies ever made, you look around for a dustbin to drop them in.

no way you could pick me up

13 inches is alot to get into a dustbin...

but so worth it

Wait that was Robert Downey, Sr.?

As the studio owner? Yes!

As many times as I've seen it, had no idea either.

You may own the tapes, I’ll grant you that…

Didn’t remember the music being “Compared to What” either.

Nerd that he is, in the end credits PTA gave Downey the "(a prince)" title Downey gave himself in Putney Swipe.

I love this movie, need to watch it again. It has so many good little bits. His most fun movie? (I still haven't watched Inherent Vice, I need to, so I don't know if it's more fun.)

A former manager of mine quoted the MP/YP line to death when telling someone in our group not to work hard on the problems of others so it lost a little luster. Still great in the movie!

Inherent Vice is more abstract imo and not as directly fun. Boogie Nights hints at having madcap moments, with the actors playing it straight but the music/direction letting you know it’s goofy

Inherent Vice was frustrating because it didn't quite capture the book but was also as close as would be possible to capturing the book

Positive I was watching a TV show the past year where someone used the MP/YP construction, and--in view of whatever show it was--it seemed like a clear reference. (Unless that saying pre-dates Boogie Nights; I'd never heard it.)

last time I saw this movie it gave me really weird nightmares and I don't know why

Both BN and IV are pretty cartoony, but imo Inherent Vice tries too hard and isn’t very funny, while Boogie Nights tries much, much too hard, but has funny moments, even if it’s too glib about its characters’ suffering, in that very 1990s post-Tarantino way

otm. yeah when i rewatched BN a few years ago and it felt a lot more broad and sitcom-y than i remembered, constantly telling you that its characters are idiots in a specific way that feels very of its time now. still funny imo.

i completely forgot that the mp/yp construction was in Boogie Nights. ive definitely heard it at various times over the years since and never clocked it as a BN reference. mindblowing if thats actually the coinage.

Boogie Nights has so many characters that are poorly hiding their personal issues and pain, with most of the tragedies played off as comedic as to not turn it into a different movie

That’s probably the through-line in a lot of PTA’s work, whether he’s cloaking tragedy with comedy or presenting genuinely harrowing things punctuated with a series of punchlines

I suppose that glibness about tragedy is also just a sign of a filmmaker in their 20s

It does allow some moments of real pain, particularly for Julianne Moore's character. But some things, like William H. Macy's character, are definitely played more kind of as pathetic punchlines.

imo Inherent Vice tries too hard and isn’t very funny

sigh

pretty much all of his films are very funny though

I think PTA absolutely views most of his own films as comedies

The final line of There Will Be Blood makes me crack up every time

I can't remember it, but my brain wants to say it's "nobody's perfect!"

I could’ve sworn it was “ain’t I stinker?”

I thought it was Slim Pickens saying “Yahooo!”
#OneThread

“I’M FINISHED!”

Our 70mm run of Paul Thomas Anderson's BOOGIE NIGHTS must end Thursday! Below are 📸 of the actual print you will see!

Don't miss the party of the summer. 🎟️: https://t.co/oXN2lvB3jY pic.twitter.com/xs6VIJ7fUj

— Film at Lincoln Center (@FilmLinc) August 22, 2023

might hit this up, hardly remember the movie

saw it for the first time last year... it absolutely ruled as a big screen experience.

His name is...Carne Asada.

His partner's name is...Doctor Casino.

Those are great names!

"You know my reputation. 70 millimeters of tough load..."

rewatched again tonight

i remember seeing it in the theater with my friend group when it came out and we were all blown away by it

i think the lore of 70’s porn only works on certain ppl, generationally, like me who was quite young it has a kind of nostalgia
ppl who were in their teens and 20’s and maybe just saw it for the grimy cheap thrills it was don’t attach so much mythology to it idk

also this came out before the porn popculture resurgence so in a way it felt kind of true to the weird way we thought about those decades in the 90’s, as the 70’s being kind of warm & friendly and the 80’s being intense & violent.

but anyway i still have a hard time removing myself from the thrill of seeing it back in the day & i loved watching it again

like that version of Wahlberg is a one-time deal, where he still has a bit of rawness & actual awkward insecurity around him. It’s a great time capsule in that way

and every song is perfect, Karyn Rachtman is my GOAT music supervisor imo

i think a lot still about the great Grantland oral history of Boogie Nights - Nina Hartley having to remind herself to wear a robe between takes because the producers freaked out about her walking around naked lol

that version of Wahlberg is a one-time deal

a three-timer, I think: The Big Hit and Three Kings also see him playing/embodying a naivety born of earnestness, and all three are great.

(IIRC Huckabees sees him trying to recapture that mode, but have never revisited & dnrc how well)

He's terrific in Huckabees.

xpost oops yeah that’s true, totally forgot about Three Kings

oner thing i noticed this time is how the car getaway scene from the Molina drug house is slightly similar in some ways to the John Peters getaway in Licorice Pizza, ie getting in over yr head, escaping premises while crazy owner gives chase/threatens, car runs out of gas while escaping etc

i wonder if its something that happened to PTA that he keeps revisiting, or its a good danger/comedy gambit that he enjoys

Licorice Pizza's getaway was missing one crucial thing: Jethro Tull, the go-to soundtrack choice for anything involving fast-moving vehicles.

i feel like boogie nights is a touch overrated as a movie but not as an announcement of the director and the vibe so its fair enough really

seconded that wahlberg does in fact nail that zone again in huckabees, if anything id say hes better in that

Nobody saw this James Gray film called We Own the Night, but he's wonderful as Joaquin Phoenix's brother.

I have nothing against Boogie Nights but PTA's done better, in some cases way better.

PTA's done better, in some cases way better

pretty massive understatement there, Alfred

I too really enjoyed it when it came out but never really think about it anymore, and I doubt I'd donate two more hours of my life to revisit.. but it was a fun film at that time

(also: John C. Reilly was in Hard Eight but I think Boogie Nights kinda cemented his career, at least for me)

it always throws me when i revive a thread like this to just talk about the movie generally and everyone immediately goes into these “well obviously its not the BEST film of his ouevre hurm hurm”

maybe its just the classic or dud thread title that outs everyone in combat mode lol

like i love everyone posting itt but sometimes y’all are so “where would i rank this” list-focused it just flattens any other possible conversation idk

I'm sorry, I didn't intend that at all, especially when I remember BN's domestic scenes, or Don Cheadle in the shoe store.

IIRC the Molina scene was one of the tensest things I’ve ever seen! Right up there with that scene from The Abyss where they creep up on Michel Biehn.

its ok to not cheerlead and thats ok

and cheerleading is also ok

I did like the whole theme of VHS eventually destroying porn theaters

apparently The Colonel’s prisonmate was supposed to be Ron Jeremy but his scene got cut or they decided not to shoot it

there has to be more story there -Jeremy spent like a year w PTA taking him to porn shoots etc

In light of subsequent developments--not that anyone ever viewed Ron Jeremy as a paragon of virtue--a break for the film. (The scene of the Colonel and his cellmate is eerily similar to a clip that was circulating around then of Richard Speck and his cellmate.)

love Boogie Nights tbc and think it’s PTA’s most rewatchable / hangoutable until Licorice Pizza. his writer’s love for his horrible or damaging-fuckup characters remains remarkable across the decades, but the dense ensemble of Boogie and their own *decisions* to find community & family keeps them more directly loveable, despite the vast range of desperation and pain-causing across the crew.

totally forgot about Three Kings

VG if you haven’t seen The Big Hit I believe you will both thrill and lol to it. incredible perfs from Lou Diamond Phillips and Bokeem Woodbine too

deems it’s always a coinflip to recommend to but I’m 51% confident of enjoyment

pls as if i hadnt rented it and then caught it on multiple sky movies repeats the first time round

cheesy but very charming

ok i will give it a shot!

and sic i 100% agree with you re Boogie Nights having a similar hangout quality to Licorice Pizza. yr otm re PTA’s love for the characters - that is really key and probably the selling point for the whole exercise. there is definitely a clear wistfulness embedded in both movies, that sort of love for “running off and joining the circus” aspect of a found family is really present. also really leaning into characters who would otherwise be deeply unlikeable. Dirk, Rollergirl, Scotty; or Alana & Gary - in the hands of a different filmmaker who maybe put primacy on story over character, the fragility of any of them could easily become brittle and repellent; PTA nurtures it and makes them familiar, letting us see private moments of them scrutinizing or questioning themselves and it draws us in, helps the audience (sometimes) embrace them more and find some relatability buried in the brokenness

or it did for me

After the warmup of Sydney/Hard Eight he came out of the gate HARD on this one. Really loved it then and now - does such unexpected things either its characters and the bit parts and cameos are unforgettable. Obviously his most direct Scorsese homage but it’s earned, for me. Does several things that other PTA films do, but so so well. Also the joy of Dirk and Brock in the studio laying down the magic on those tapes is alltime.

ugh *with its characters*

Last week the Fighting in the War Room guys and Katie Walsh discussed Punch-Drunk Love, which I haven't watched since 2002 and plan to this weekend.

How appropriate that Boogie Nights came out at the same time as Jackie Brown, a film whose rep has increased over the years cuz it's also a hangout film.

I haven't watched Licorice Pizza since December '21. It's on Amazon Prime fwiw.

I recently rewatched PDL and was kind of shocked by how much I liked it. All the mid2000s tweeness I was afraid would turn me off now didn’t bother me at all. Hector Guzman is amazingly funny. And a great PSH performance

I didn't dislike PDL when I saw it, but even after liking Boogie Nights so much when it was new, I was starting to think of him as a gimmick-driven filmmaker (a rambling anti-epic with a WTF ending, a drama starring Adam Sandler). There Will Be Blood struck me as a maturation.

movie is an all-timer just for Michael Penn’s “Livin’ Thing” story.

I found this pretty stilted when I rewatched it somewhat recently. That charming hangout energy is undercut by the more grandiose Scorsese-ness imo. I never saw this on the big screen though

Punch Drunk Love is great! But ignore me, I’m the one who likes Magnolia and didn’t like Phantom Thread.

I love Magnolia and the haters are dead inside.

Still haven’t seen Phantom Thread but I’ve loved everything he’s done except Inherent Vice which refused to adhere to me.

i havent watched Magnolia in a long time, initially i couldnt get past the offputtingness of Cruises character and i guess i kinda took it to heart

def need to revisit

i like everything else pretty much so Magnolia is kind if a weird blindspot for me

https://i.imgur.com/si7W1AL.gif

I think Magnolia is great, or at least has enough greatness in it (especially the performances) to balance out whatever might not be great about it as a whole.

Loved Boogie Nights in the theater, one of the all-time great openings, up there with Miami Vice for sudden impact.

magnolia overwrought
punch drunk love over awkward
phantom thread a masterpiece
inherent vice one of my favourite of the decade

Boogie Nights, Licorice Pizza and Inherent Vice are my top shelf, maybe Master too
I love Phantom Thread and There Will Be Blood but I dont really revist them?
Need to rewatch Punch Drunk Love, mighy give that a whirl this week

I think Magnolia is great, or at least has enough greatness in it (especially the performances) to balance out whatever might not be great about it as a whole.

^^ this

ilx already did:
poll thomas anderson
poll thomas anderson 2

maybe it's time for PTA poll #3. posters here seem bent on ranking his whole career to date.

Maybe wait until the new one comes out?

posters here seem bent on ranking his whole career to date.

Law of The Andersons: Every discussion of PT or Wes must be derailed by unasked for canon rankings.

I can rewatch TWBB pretty easily, but I have yet to revisit Phantom Thread. Not because I disliked it, but because seeing in in the theater was a strong tonic and I'm still appreciating my solitary viewing.

this may be an unpopular opinion but I find Reilly’s character oddly thin and a bit of a cypher; like the memorable things about him are what Reilly himself brings, and theres great moments & funny bits but as a character I feel like Reed fits in the least with everyone else? idk

(in Boogie Nights)

Love Reed Rothchild, but he's a total sycophant--to Dirk, to Jack, to Todd Parker.

yeah maybe thats what i’m getting

Have you ever seen De Palma's Casualties of Wars? He's very similar there--he just wants to be one of the guys and go along with whatever everyone else is doing (which, in De Palma's film, is horrendous).

I saw Boogie Nights at a theater in Puebla, Mexico. Or maybe Mexico City. But it was pretty strange because when I would be cracking up, nobody else was laughing, whereas the audience was dying of laughter anytime Phillip Seymour Hoffman was onscreen, I presume because they were used to gay men being portrayed as clowns.

I haven’t seen every PTA movie but this is unquestionably my favorite of what I’ve seen.

*checks Wikipedia*

So I’ve only seen five of his movies:

Boogie Nights
Magnolia
Punch Drunk Love
The Master
Inherent Vice

Have you ever seen De Palma's Casualties of Wars? He's very similar there--he just wants to be one of the guys and go along with whatever everyone else is doing (which, in De Palma's film, is horrendous).

― clemenza, Tuesday, August 26, 2025 5:55 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Brian De Palma is in a room with studio executives. On a whiteboard, he writes "CASUALTIES OF WAR." Then, he adds an "S," which he crosses with two vertical lines.

🤣

Admit it, this imaginary scene would become funnier if De Palma then drew dollar signs on each cheek with a Sharpie, then crossed his arms and glared around the room

Unquestionably mine too, Raymond, and I always love hearing that.

Posted in my FB tennis group a couple of weeks ago (pertaining to a trophy on loan): "Maybe you could see what a modification would cost?"

I can't hear that word without thinking of Don Cheadle and the "TK-421 modification." He approaches comic genius in that scene: "...which, uh, kicks it up another, I don't know, maybe three or four, um, quads per channel, you know. But that's really--that's technical talk. That doesn't really concern you."

I've gotta start using that out in the world: "That's technical talk. That doesn't really concern you."

PTA's commentary for this film is great because pretty much the entire film cracks him up, especially anything involving Reilly.

this is 1 of my fav films.. the most recent time i caught some of it on cable I was really affected by how dark it gets from little bills murder/suicide into the 80s.. i am maybe getting a little soft as i age and not saying that segment incredibly well done, actually i think thats why its so affecting, but it put me off a bit, not a criticism more just my experience

fond memory of walking out of this in 1997, two young girls behind me, presumably in response to the final shot, disappointed: "that was it???"

absolutely my favorite movie as a budding teen cinephile for its truly excellent scorsese-pastiche qualities--transposing goodfellas onto pornographers in the valley has a lot more going for it than you'd expect, and the "happy" ending of chosen family, etc is sweetly uncynical.

all to say im not inclined to condescend to the "whizz-bang" precociousness of it all, but actually find a lot empathy being expressed through PTA exorcising his own awkwardness through his characters.

You could've heard a pin drop in the theatre during the final scene when I saw the film in '97. I still remember the two middle aged gay men sitting in front of me turning to each other with a look of "how about that?!"

I still remember being reeled in by the trailer, but what I was hoping for was probably something closer to a Corman-esque film with a great soundtrack. I'm pretty sure I wasn't expecting anything as epic or as complex (I would argue, not everyone would) as what materialized--as much Nashville as Scorsese.

I haven't actually seen it in years and years, but I do remember "Boogie Nights" as a virtuoso work, as self-assured and show-offy and ambitious/audacious as, say, young Spielberg (albeit adjusted to the same everything-goes raised-on-VHS era that begat Tarantino). It's been interesting to watch Anderson come into his own, even if the products of that maturation are ultimately kind of unclassifiable, imo. Some of the most distinctive bits of "Boogie Nights" he borrowed from other places (which lends it a lot of its precociousness), but much of his subsequent work I find harder to place as echoes of those once obvious/blatant influences. I haven't seen it in eons either, but "Punch Drunk Love" at the time seemed like an intentionally break. "Look, I can work in other modes, too!" Iirc Anderson may have even said or implied he set that movie up as a personal change-of-pace challenge.