“We’ve all done bad things. We’ve all had those guilty feelings in our heart. I’m going to take your brain out of your head and wash it and scrub it and make it clean.”
When Paul Thomas Anderson released Boogie Nights in 1997 it was talked about as a Pulp Fiction-esque snapshot of vulgar American pop culture. Some called it porno-chic because the story centers on a John Holmes-like boy-man named Dirk Diggler, played by Mark Wahlberg, who possesses a gigantic penis, great sexual stamina, and a keen interest in making things “sexy.”
Enter Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds), an adult movie director. Jack sees Dirk’s equipment and quickly includes him in his troupe of hangers-on that include Jack’s star Amber Waves (Julianne Moore), his budding starlet Rollergirl (Heather Graham), assistant director Little Bill (William H. Macy), and sundry supporting performers and crewmembers played by the likes of Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
The arc of the movie then moves along a thread worn path as we watch Dirk achieve the greatest of his professional ambitions only to be brought low by hubris and drug addiction. He loses his wealth, reputation, and fame, and ends up nearly shot-to-death in a theft gone wrong.
Finally, Dirk asks Jack for forgiveness, whereupon he cleans up his habits and we are treated to the lone, bare shot of Dirk’s phallus as it droops from his pants on the way to shooting his cum-back vehicle. End movie.
What lingers about Boogie Nights is the way it’s not really about the sex industry. It’s not even really about the style achievements of the 1970s and 1980s, although the costumes, set design, and soundtrack of the movie are worth the price of admission.
Boogie Nights is an allegory of the post-World War II American family. Every character we meet is injured in some significant way, as in: Jack is a traditionalist who can’t adapt to a changing world; Dirk’s a momma’s boy but his mom is a virago; Amber is a mother who loses her son in a bitter custody battle; Little Bill is a worrier and organizer but his wife disturbs his calm by cuckolding him everywhere he goes; Rollergirl craves maturity but wears a childish fetish object on her feet; and the screen is awash with drug and alcohol abuse.
When Dirk returns to Jack Boogie Nights settles into its purpose. We see how broken and damaged people can share in mutual pursuits that mimic the idea of a traditional family. That the movie offers us much nudity and grunting along the way is no more than an enticement to the former rain coaters in the audience; Boogie Nights is really the story of making a family from misfit toys and forging ahead, optimistically, into the unknown tomorrow.
–September 30, 2018
