Ranking Paul Thomas Anderson’s films from worst to best
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Credit: Boogie Nights
Movie of the Week: 25 years of Paul Thomas Anderson’s seductive ‘Boogie Nights’
The films of the American filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson bridge the gap between the golden age of Hollywood and the contemporary flourishing of the industry better than any other. Possessing an innate class, such films as The Master, Phantom Thread and There Will be Blood contain characters who could live and breathe outside of the realms of celluloid, breathing life with every utterance of hand-crafted dialogue.
In his 1997 movie Boogie Nights, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, Anderson shows off his proficiency for such classic Hollywood tales, setting the stage for a glitzy exploration of the porn industry that emulates the glamour of the movie industry in the 1970s and early 1980s. Indeed, Anderson’s passionate and painfully honest depiction of the American soul elicits something similar to a punk band’s first records — pure fiery brilliance.
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Burt Reynolds and John C. Reilly, the film succeeds as a result of its incredible ensemble cast, who each create an eclectic image of life in 1970s California. Telling a sleazy tale of the American dream, Anderson’s sophomore film follows the discovery of Dirk Diggler (Wahlberg), a hot new talent in the porn industry whose ambitions are set to turn the industry upside down.
Suffused with sheer love for the time period, which Anderson would later explore in more detail with the release of 2022’s celebrated Licorice Pizza, the filmmaker perfectly captures the ambition, style and freneticism of the era in the gorgeous grainy cinematography and the characters who feel like an indelible part of the landscape’s makeup.
Though he famously hated working with the young 26-year-old filmmaker, Reynolds’ performance as the veteran porn producer Jack Horner gives the film much of its authenticity, perfectly realising his role that borders sleaze and slickness. Meanwhile, Mark Wahlberg gives the performance of his career in a role he was born to play, stepping into the shoes of a spunky young, ambitious porn actor with remarkable dedication.
Much like many of Paul Thomas Anderson’s modern classics, whilst there is plenty of characterisation to pick apart in Boogie Nights, the real magic of the movie comes in its synthesis between style and content. At its heart, his stylistic 1997 film is an ode to the ‘70s, celebrating the spontaneous optimism of the time, as well as the resulting repercussions of such fame, mania and greed that resided under the LA lights of the time.
Entering the industry as the bright-eyed Eddie Adams, Wahlberg’s character steadily takes on the identity of Dirk Diggler, mentally transforming himself into a liberated individual who has pushed away the influence of his abusive mother. In Horner, Eddie finds freedom, becoming an icon of the industry to many as he loses his inhibitions and embraces a life of sex, hard drugs and relentless escapism.
Though, no matter how far he spirals, it is inevitable that he will be spat out on the other side as the same vulnerable young man who entered the industry in the first place. Fun, frivolous and sparky, Boogie Nights is one of Paul Thomas Anderson’s many masterworks, with the ability to disarm and enchant the viewer by telling a story about exploitation wrapped up in the glamour of feverish 70s entertainment.
