Boogie Nights (1997) Official Trailer #1 - Paul Thomas Anderson Movie
As far as endlessly rewatchable movies go, Boogie Nights is way, way up there. As far as sophomore features go, it’s an all-time great if not the all-time greatest. The hysterical, melancholy and fairy tale-esque story of well-endowed Dirk Diggler (Mark Whalberg) and his err, “rise” to fame, eventual fall, and attempted rebirth is one of the best films of the ’90s—and alongside some, um, stiff competition, the best film of 1997. Setting the film in the porno industry of the late ’70s, one would think Paul Thomas Anderson’s film would be a sex-filled, lascivious affair. While obviously there’s some sex scenes, the film is more of a family drama about a group of individualistic misfits who just happen to have sex with each other on film for money. In a 1997 review for Variety, Emanuel Levy said Boogie Nights was a “well-crafted, if also overextended canvas, the picture comes across as a piercing, seriocomic inquiry into the personal lives of the players involved.”