Boogie Nights [Blu-ray] [1997]

Although loosely based on the sleazy life and times of real-life porn legend John Holmes, at heart it's a classic Hollywood rise-and-fall fable: a naive, good-looking young busboy is discovered in a San Fernando Valley disco by a famous motion picture producer, becomes a hotshot movie star, lives the high life and then loses everything when he gets too big for his britches, succumbs to insobriety and is left behind by new times and new technology.

Of course, it isn't exactly A Star Is Born or Singin' in the Rain. Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson (in only his second feature) puts his own affectionately sardonic twist on the old showbiz biopic formula: the ambitious upstart changes his name and achieves stardom in porno films as "Dirk Diggler". Instead of drinking to excess, he snorts cocaine (the classic drug of 70s hedonism); and it's the coming of home video (rather than talkies) that helps to dash his big-screen dreams. As for the britches, well, the controversial "money shot" explains everything. And the cast is one of the great ensembles of the 90s, including Oscar nominees Burt Reynolds and Julianne Moore, Mark Wahlberg (who really can act--from the waist up, too!), Heather Graham (as Rollergirl), William H Macy, John C Reilly and Ricky Jay. --Jim Emerson

4.5 stars - Outstanding


New Widescreen Edition Finally   June 29, 2010
tmjhur
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Received from Amazon today.
I can confirm it is in widescreen, finally. No more "oogie night".
Can't believe we were screwed for all those years. You cannot watch a film of this quality of craft, pan and scanned.

Only special features seem to be audio commentary by director and another one by cast and crew. P.T. Anderson commentary shall be worth a watch/listen.

I haven't watched this edition yet as I just got it but I can say from previous viewings that it is a 5 star film and it's great to be finally able to see it in it's true form.


one big family   December 5, 2004
9 out of 12 found this review helpful

though you might not think it on first inspection, this is one of the the greatest historical epics ever made. seriously. this film charts the meteoric rise and fall of Dirk Diggler, based on the notoriously well endowed John Holmes. it really is one of the most enjoyable and touching films, and, given the subject matter, this is quite a feat. a film of two halves, the first is all about the rise of Dirk and the porn high of the late 70's. full of colour, life, and humour, not to mention some seriously funky tunes, director P.T Anderson has created the ultimate 'I wish I was there' film. however, it's not long before the 80's and a whole load of cocaine enter and the industry goes crashing towards the low realm of DTV. it takes on a much more sombre and depressing tone yet still manages to bring spirits back up in an almost tear jerking conclusion perfectly soundtracked to the beach boys 'god only knows'. the highest quality porn movie you'll ever see.


one of my all time favourities   August 20, 2010
orange tom (belgium)
boogie nigchts 1997 is a superb drama starring a good cast including mark wahlberg despite the great achting is paul thommas who makes this a good movie for the blu ray it looks and sounds very fantastic the extras are very good too so for the fans of this movie this is a must buy


LOVE this film   June 2, 2010
HmS (Bedfordshire, England)
I'm a big fan of nostalgic films. This was a brilliant film i sky+'d it one night and eventually watched it and as soon as it had finished i knew i had to buy it. it was just brilliant made me laugh, made me feel kinda sad and eventually made my jaw hit the floor, but i found out later that it was a prosthetic made from rubber. i loved this movie it was brilliant i was captivated. now after watching that film everytime i see heather graham in anything i just remember that scene on the sidewalk with her infamous rollerskates. she'll always be rollergirl to me.