Boogie Nights

 

I have wanted to watch this for decades. I probably didn't have the money as a teen-I have been put off for in viewing it by the content

It looks great- it could be 

A great performance by Burt Reynolds -Finally he is cast as the type of character I  I have wanted to see him play  for a while. Namely a competent, tough and seasoned leader . A Bandit who is not mugging for the camera.

OR

A deeply vain and cynical man. Who is  vampirically preying on the young and hopeless. Heather Graham is driven from school Diggler was a prostitute and assumes he is being propositioned

It is 5 dollars the price asked for. Which would be about 20 pounds  

Boogie Nights is almost a comedy- It is almost a great comedy You can see why Cheadle, Reilly, and Wahlberg all worked in comedy. 

Aside from Reynolds Horner-  There is an air of immaturity about the cast in this film. Jack Horner is a fairytale name. This is a rags to riches story  Heather Graham Roller Girl -she refuses to take her footwear off. What neurological condition does that sound like again?   Whalberg is a high school drop out who flees a wicked mother Wahlberg's Diggler wants to make a bond film-He throws kicks on the screen. Ditto Reilly who asks Diggler if he has seen Star Wars. The scene where Whalberg and Reilly first meet each other at a pool party could have been written into Stepbrothers- Diggler does to Stan Bush's The Touch what Megatron does Optimus Prime in another movie 

There is sadness here. This is an industry that destroys people- Cheadle not able to get a bank loan because of his former work. Julianne Moore-obsessed with a younger man and trying to get her son back. There is a touching scene where Moore's estranged child tries to call her at a pool party.

Though it is played for laughs at the beginning- Macey's wife constant cuckoldom of him ends in bloodshed. The same scene is intercut with a technical discussion between the lighting director and stage manager about the level of lighting. We see Horner doing admin. A discussion of the pros and cons of Film v Videotape and how it changed the adult movie market. An attempt to make a gonzo film ends badly  Oh  Horner's money man the Colonel will be arrested and imprisoned  for creating illegal material 

Diggler no longer being the big thing. Leads to his downfall.. That said the film ends mostly happily for most people  Which I think is a bit of a cop out There is a queer bashing scene. Something I hope is as much of a thing of a past as 8 Tracks. That said I think there are new horrors today