Boogie Nights

The first time that I saw this movie in the theatres, I knew very little about P.T. Anderson, and not much more about the film. What was my “first impression”? Well, I thought the movie kicked big ARSE style-wise, but I honestly kept pointing out the umpteen similarities between the movie and all of Scorsese’s films during the entire thing, and eventually began to annoy even myself!!

Bottom line: I dug the movie but not as much as I should have since I was fiercely protective of GOODFELLAS and Scorsese “homages” at the time…(I’ve calmed down since…hehe)

Anyhoo, with all that movie geek stuff aside, I sat down with my nachos once again last night and dude…yeah, it came through!

This movie is great shit! It kicks ass in various different directions and then comes back for more. Let’s start off with the acting, which rumbles perfectly across the board, starting with a solid understated performance from Burt Reynolds (ungrateful bastard– in real-life!), Marky Mark (I know he hates that) showing us that he is more than just a 13-inch penis, Julianne Moore, playing a great absent-mom-whore-junkie and every other player from John C., kickin’ it as usual, Guzman, hilarious as always, Cheadle giving us another top-notch mark and how about…Philip Seymour Hoffman, babes?! Wow…a great, great, GREAT nerd/groupie performance!! Did I leave anyone out? Oh yeah, Heather Graham was the perfect porn star…hehehe

But then there’s also the style of the movie. Aaaaw man, P.T. sure loves to move that camera around, and as a MAJOR fan of the general look and feel of movies, I totally got into his groove. It might bother or turn some people off, since he does REALLY play around with a lot of his equipment (no pun intended), but I dug it all whole!!

Add that to an awesome soundtrack (the whole “Sister Christian” scene is one that I will never forget…that Chinese kid with the fire-crackers was absolutely perfect for that scene and how about Alfred Molina, eh?), a pretty decent story about the rise, shine and seediness of the porn industry, many, MANY memorable moments and scenes (“that’s my wife getting fucked in the driveway and you want to talk to me about tomorrow’s shoot?”), and some pretty funny stuff, too.

Granted, I did think that P.T. got a little over-zealous with some scenes, where the camera just stayed on for a few minutes more than it needed to, but as most genuises go, who am I to question the bastard? The ending was also a little “too” happy for all, but whatever…it’s Hollywood, right?!

All in all, a fun movie packed with super performances, an inventive style, a great soundtrack and a naked shot of Mark Wahlberg’s 13-inch penis in the last scene.

Fun shtuff!

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian