Boogie Night
It’s been a long time, maybe twenty years, since I saw Paul Thomas Anderson’s classic saga of a young man (a particularly well-endowed young man) and his journey through the pornography world of the San Fernando Valley in the late 1970’s. When he wrote, produced and directed this sex cult movie in 1997, Anderson had already spent ten years thinking about his Dirk Diggler character played by Mark Wahlberg. He was obviously committed to the story. By ‘97, Anderson had broken through into the Hollywood A-list with his movie Hard Eight, about the gambling life with Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Samuel L. Jackson and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Anderson obviously targeted future stars based on their having strong middle name presence. Actually, he also featured Gwyneth Paltrow two years before Shakespeare in Love, so middle names were not the only criteria for success.
In Boogie Nights, the cast reads like a who’s who of the A-list past and present. Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, Luis Guzman, Don Cheadle, John C. Riley, Heather Graham, William H. Macy, Michael Stein, Alfred Molina and Philip Seymour Hoffman. I never realized what a launching pad this movie was for do many talented actors. The movie gets an 85 Metascore and only a 7.2 IMDb rating despite having a 93 Rotten Tomatoes score. I’m not altogether sure what all that implies about the film in a critical sense. I want to compare it to My Cousin Vinnie for reasons I will explain. It has a 68 Metascore, a 7.6 IMDb and an 86 Rotten Tomatoes score. I would argue that more people know and like MCV rather than BN, but they rank 843 and 403 respectively so I appear to be wrong. But then the box office never lies and they respectively earned $64 million and $43 million, so I will declare victory anyway.
Pornography holds a lot of allure in terms of piquing prurient interests. I don’t think it has as broad appeal as humor, so I will always favor humor. BN is a drama not a comedy. Anderson says he modeled it after Goodfellas. It has a darkness like Goodfellas while it tells the tale of the violence and depravity of the time and place. Sex, drugs and money that lead to lost souls of every sort. The disregard for human dignity and life is contrasted with the innocence of the naive and stupid. What gave the story popular appeal was that it was set in a real-life suburban world with which everyone could relate.
I have the good fortune to have gotten to know Dale Launer, the writer/producer/director who broke the Hollywood grip on writers, by insisting that he produce and eventually direct his own films. We’ve all heard of Sly Stallone holding out with his Rocky script until he was given the role that led to his fame and fortune. The same was true of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck with Good Will Hunting. Lake Bell did it with In a World… except she went the added step of writing/producing/directing AND acting in her own movie. But it was Dale, who fought the Hollywood establishment in the early 90’s and seemed to really pay the price. Where Paul Thomas Anderson has made 44 films, Dale got his career cut short at writing 8 movies. I’ve never asked him if that was his choice or the way of Hollywood. Woody Allen wrote 80 films, directed 55 and acted in 46 (but interestingly only produced 1 movie, one of his first, What’s Up Tiger Lily). What I know is that I wish Dale had had a longer run. I liked Woody’s humor but I loved Dale’s humor.
As I rewatch Boogie Nights this night I am reminded of just how horribly violent people can be. Every person in this story about pornography either becomes a perpetrator, victim or witness of great violence. There are vast swaths of uncaring people and tragic people. It’s strange that the finishing montage reprises what has become of all the characters with the same background music of God Only Knows by The Beach Boys that is used for the finishing montage of Richard Curtis’ Love Actually. What does one of the best romantic comedies that qualifies as a genuine Christmas List movie have with Boogie Nights? Now you know that bit of trivia if you are ever asked.
The ending scene of course is the shock and awe of having Dirk Diggler show us in the mirror his prize and glory in the flesh. Actually, Wahlberg went on record on the talk show circuit saying it was not all him in the flesh. Indeed, it was a plaster prosthesis made to proportionally match Mark Wahlberg’s rather diminutive stature. It seems that the real Dirk Diggler had a much larger unit than they could fit to Marky Mark without making it look grotesquely monstrous and unrealistic. I can only imagine the professional art direction team sitting around discussing about how big is too big to be credible. It’s quite a personal and subjective issue that probably needs to be decided by the people who have watched the most porn or hung out the most in men’s locker rooms. I guess the credentialing of the people charged with the decision is tough. One thing you know is that they won’t default to something too small for fear of someone saying, “you call that big?” and thereby creating lots of embarrassment.
It seems in Ancient Greece and Rome, as noted by tourists visiting Florence’s David by Michelangelo, the small penis was more prized and highly regarded than the large variety. The large was considered comical and less cerebral. That seems like a very smart ploy by some very smart and artistic Greeks and Romans to insure that they felt good about themselves. Dirk Diggler does not win any intellect tests, so maybe there hasn’t been much change since Grecian days in the positioning of male dominance. I’m glad I watched BN again, but I can honestly say that if I never see it again, I will not feel I’m missing anything. Now MCV will never wear thin on me like that.