A cool, well-crafted take on the traditional rise-and-fall story (with a banal drug angle) in which the protagonist doesn't really rise at all in the first place. Boogie Nights, despite some excellent elements, suffers from inconsistent pacing and tone, and its "obvious" lampooning of Hollywood and the American Dream leaves the viewer grasping for something more.

The film features one of the most impressive ensemble casts ever and most of them do a great job, with Reynolds and Philip Seymour…

Amazing. I feel I have stepped into the fan club of Paul Thomas Anderson after seeing and loving this film. Wow not at all what I expected.
This was truly one of the best movies I have ever seen. They took this movie where I feel only Paul could of while others directors might focus on the industry itself. Beginning with Eddie Adams as the movie keeps going it expands its story telling to other characters and their situations.
Mark…

A completely different kind of Paul Thomas Anderson film, it chronicles the meteoric rise of Dirk Diggler and his reign as the king of the pornography industry in the late 70's. The film has an incredible way of connecting all of these minor and major characters with an star-studded cast. If porn in the 70's was that star-studded, we'd be watching porn flicks over normal flicks - oh, wait...

Mark Wahlberg plays the cocaine'd out Diggler very well and his…

Like all of PTA's work, technical perfection, but with the added heart that has escaped me in his later work. Each character is memorable and the ensemble cast is brilliant in its entirely, in particular Wahlberg's versatile lead and John C. Reilly's hilariously idiotic sidekick. PTA's visual flair is out in full force, his camerawork as kinetic and vivacious as ever, complemented by a perfectly apt soundtrack.

'Boogie Nights' is a tale of both self-destruction and redemption, and despite it…

Paul Thomas Anderson is truly the greatest American screenwriter/filmmaker of our time. With 'Boogie Nights' he creates another modern classic. A huge (no pun intended), sweeping epic about the America dream that brilliantly captures the feel of the 70's.

This film is incredibly audacious and very self confident. It clocks in at just under three hours and features many tonal shifts. Yet, PTA manages to pull off everything perfectly. This film, although somewhat episodic, manages to retain a certain level…

Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights is an eclectic and confidently directed story about Dirk Diggler's (Eddie Adams) extended sojourn into the porn industry in the 1970s and 1980s. Although seemingly the eclectic nature of the film may feel unoriginal, it certainly isn't - PTA makes this his own with his swirling camera movements and excellent characters - all, excellently written by himself.

The majority of his characters are all so well written and the ensemble cast are all superb in…

Paul Thomas Anderson has proven over the past seventeen years that he is one of the most interesting and fascinating directors currently in the business, churning out one acclaimed masterpiece after another. His films tend to be very long, but never feel bloated or boring, as the way he creates drama and explores characters makes everything that happens interesting and engrossing. Like with his other work, not one frame in the masterful Boogie Nights is wasted, and not a single…