Boogie Nights is one of the best films to come out of the 90's and I'd go so far as to say it should be in the IMDb top 250. I can actually understand why many would dislike it, due to the subject matter. I personally feel however as many do, judging from the aclaim this film's received by viewers and critics that it's topnotch film making.

The direction and acting in this film surpass good and reach the level of brilliance.There is not one scene in this movie that isn't amazing. The individual characters reach out and touch you. Given that this is a movie about the porn industry, one wouldn't imagine the sex scenes could be handled with such sensitivity but they are. The direction is among the best I've ever seen-and I've seen a lot of films.

The film isn't about one particular personal individual's story, it's about many.It's a character study about people who have many layers to them and who maybe in an industry most would find alien but who still dream the same dreams and have both bad and good to them. Boogie Nights draws you into their story from the beginning, and though the film is long(I believe almost 3 hours) you honestly don't even notice. And when it ends you kind of don't want it to....

I'm not easy to impress, meaning there aren't many movies I'd give a 10 of 10 rating to but this is one. Beyond the multiple character study, is the use of music in the film. I have never, in all my years of seeing movies seen music tell a story as well as in this movie.There was such flawlessness to it, you know it's not something your gonna see everyday.

Burt reynold's performance was perhaps the best I've ever seen him do, and Mark Wahlberg is incredible(I'm astounded there are still people saying he doesn't act well. I don't know how anyone viewing this could possibly think that)but the person who really surprised me was Heather Grahem(Rollergirl) who is absolutely fantastic in her role, in particular the one memorable scene with Burt Reynolds in the Limo, towards the end.

Again, I'll echo other IMDb reviewers in saying this movie is not for everybody. But I still think this was topnotch.10 of 10.

An affectionate look at the Golden Age of porn movies, from the late 1970s to, say, the early 1980s. The cast list is filled with familiar names who deliver the goods with expected skill. Philip Seymour Hoffman is unusually fine but then they're almost all outstanding.

No need to carry on about the content. It's not prurient. There's very little nudity and the simulated sex is not as exploitative as it is in many far less ambitious and thoughtful erotic thrillers -- "Body of Evidence," for instance, or "Masquerade." I'll give an example of some of the acting talent on display here. Julianne Moore is a splendid performer who has become a familiar name not because of her appearance -- she's hardly gorgeous by Hollywood standards -- but because of the subtlety with which she uses her instrument. In "Boogie Nights" she plays the wife of Burt Reynolds, a kind of surrogate mother to the cast and crew of the flicks Burt turns out and Moore acts in. There is an important scene in which she and Mark Wahlberg, as a tyro with a preposterous pylon, a monumental masculinity, make love on screen for the first time. He's a nervous wreck, but she's gentle and real and makes him feel less anxious simply by being accommodating. And then the scene is filmed. (One take. Two would cost too much money.) And Moore adopts the character she's playing in the skin flick. In her filmed conversation with Wahlman she strips herself of her natural talent and becomes the kind of fake with the artificial voice that populates the skin flicks of the 70s. She acts as if she can't act.

The porn film that used to be shown in theaters goes out of style in the 1980s. Films are now videotaped and Burt Reynolds, who yearns to make a "real film" that he will be "remembered for," balks at the change. Neither Reynolds nor anyone else seems to realize that the social world they've built is as evanescent, as friable, as the disco music that serves as its accompaniment. Everything goes downhill, undone not so much by prudery as by properties inherent in the occupation, the Zeitgeist, and, in fact, in human nature -- political correctness, technology, coke, celebrity, materialism, ego, hoary feminist inevitabilities, and the general decadence to which social movements are prone.

The direction? Forget that this is a movie about sex and watch the scene towards the end in which Wahlberg and two of his friends visit the house of a rich rock star with the intention of robbing him of all the money he is said to keep in his safe. Things begin to go wrong. The rock star is high as a kite, he has a big black associate armed with two pistols, the pointless electric guitars and percussion from the stereo fill the air with din, an unexpected Chinese guest is setting off firecrackers and each bang makes the three would-be thieves jump in their seats. There is a generous amount of tension in this scene and it would do justice to any more "respectable" movie.

In the end, things have quieted down and have become quietly peaceful and quietly quiet. The movie's not a tragedy but the story of a tough and uncertain journey through particularly turbulent times, which not all the participants manage to survive.

It's pretty good.

'Boogie Nights' is more than a great film even, it's fantastic and more worthy of even more praise than it already gets.

What is immediately impressive after finishing is how it tackles the subject matters of pornography, disco and drugs, very difficult subjects to portray in any media without being too trashy or causing offence but 'Boogie Nights' manages to make a film that commits neither of those things (even with the sex and drug abuse being prominent, they all have their full impact without being over-the-top or trivialised) and instead make one that's interesting and entertaining as well as disturbing and emotional. Few films that include even one of these subjects have succeeded in doing that so well.

It looks stunning for a start, with an imaginative surreal touch to the lighting and kinetic cinematography (though also with the trademark long takes and tracking shots that is immediately distinctive of Paul Thomas Anderson) and audacious costuming. Visually the standout is the opening Steadicam shot, it's breathtaking and famous for very good reason. The disco soundtrack is a perfect fit, it's infectious, effectively sleazy, sometimes deliciously ironic and also makes one want to dance with the characters and nostalgic for the 80s.

The screenplay was nominated for an Oscar, and with its perfect balance of the hilarious, the poignant and the darkly disturbing it's a worthy nomination. Even with the huge two and a half hour length (it may be argued by some that the film is too long),there is rarely if at all a dull stretch in the story, which explores the adult entertainment industry and the American Dream in ways that are startling, hugely entertaining and poignant.

Anderson does a wonderful job directing, not just with the telling of the story and keeping the atmosphere consistent but also in making the characters compelling and in his direction of actors (some of the best of any modern-day director) and their interaction. The acting is one of the biggest reasons why 'Boogie Nights' works so well. Mark Wahlberg has never been better, anybody who doubts his abilities as an actor should see this, and Burt Reynolds is brilliant in one of his career's finest performances in his "comeback" role. There are scintillating turns from Heather Graham and especially Julianne Moore (along with Reynolds also Oscar-nominated, again worthy nominations and would have been even worthier winners),and also fabulous support from Don Cheadle, William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffmann, a hugely entertaining John C. Reilly (even if the role occasionally threatens to strain credibility but thankfully it never does) and a gloriously unhinged Alfred Molina.

Overall, fantastic film. 10/10 Bethany Cox