On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 77 reviews, with an average score of 8.10/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Grounded in strong characters, bold themes, and subtle storytelling, Boogie Nights is a groundbreaking film both for director P.T. Anderson and star Mark Wahlberg."[22] On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 86 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[23] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.[24]
Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, "Everything about Boogie Nights is interestingly unexpected," although "the film's extravagant 2-hour 32-minute length amounts to a slight tactical mistake ... [it] has no trouble holding interest ... but the length promises larger ideas than the film finally delivers." She praised Burt Reynolds for "his best and most suavely funny performance in many years," and added, "The movie's special gift happens to be Mark Wahlberg, who gives a terrifically appealing performance."[25]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times observed:
Few films have been more matter-of-fact, even disenchanted, about sexuality. Adult films are a business here, not a dalliance or a pastime, and one of the charms of Boogie Nights is the way it shows the everyday backstage humdrum life of porno filmmaking ... The sweep and variety of the characters have brought the movie comparisons to Robert Altman's Nashville and The Player. There is also some of the same appeal as Pulp Fiction in scenes that balance precariously between comedy and violence ... Through all the characters and all the action, Anderson's screenplay centers on the human qualities of the players ... Boogie Nights has the quality of many great films, in that it always seems alive.[26]
Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle stated, "Boogie Nights is the first great film about the 1970s to come out since the '70s ... It gets all the details right, nailing down the styles and the music. More impressive, it captures the decade's distinct, decadent glamour ... [It] also succeeds at something very difficult: re-creating the ethos and mentality of an era ... Paul Thomas Anderson ... has pulled off a wonderful, sprawling, sophisticated film ... With Boogie Nights, we know we're not just watching episodes from disparate lives but a panorama of recent social history, rendered in bold, exuberant colors."[27]
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called it "a startling film, but not for the obvious reasons. Yes, its decision to focus on the pornography business in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s and 1980s is nerviness itself, but more impressive is the film's sureness of touch, its ability to be empathetic, nonjudgmental and gently satirical, to understand what is going on beneath the surface of this raunchy Nashville-esque universe and to deftly relate it to our own ... Perhaps the most exciting thing about Boogie Nights is the ease with which writer-director Anderson ... spins out this complex web. A true storyteller, able to easily mix and match moods in a playful and audacious manner, he is a filmmaker definitely worth watching, both now and in the future."[28] In Time Out New York, Andrew Johnston concluded, "The porn milieu may scare some folks off, but Boogie Nights offers laughs, tenderness, terror and redemption--everything you could ask for in a movie. It's an impressive and satisfying film, one the Academy really ought to have the balls to recognize."[29]
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said, "[T]his chunk of movie dynamite is detonated by Mark Wahlberg ... who grabs a breakout role and runs with it ... Even when Boogie Nights flies off course as it tracks its bizarrely idealistic characters into the '80s ... you can sense the passionate commitment at the core of this hilarious and harrowing spectacle. For this, credit Paul Thomas Anderson ... who ... scores a personal triumph by finding glints of rude life in the ashes that remained after Watergate. For all the unbridled sex, what is significant, timely and, finally, hopeful about Boogie Nights is the way Anderson proves that a movie can be mercilessly honest and mercifully humane at the same time."[30]
Gene Siskel of Chicago Tribune called it "beautifully made" and praised the performances, calling Reynolds "absolutely centered and in control of his emotions" and saying Wahlberg "couldn't be better". However, he moderated his praise by saying, "The early rave reviews accorded this film suggest a significance that I, however, did not encounter. Show-biz stories are all pretty much the same: ambition, stardom, drugs, disillusionment. Add the home video revolution to this mix and curiosity about the size of the boy wonder's equipment; throw in a few topical references like the soft drink Fresca, and you have the bare bones of the story." He gave the film three and a half stars out of a possible four.[31]
Wahlberg would later regret making the film, saying "I've made some poor choices in the past".[32]
Accolades
Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Burt Reynolds | Nominated | [33] |
Best Supporting Actress | Julianne Moore | Nominated | ||
Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen | Paul Thomas Anderson | Nominated | ||
Artios Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Feature Film Casting – Comedy | Christine Sheaks | Won | [34] |
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Burt Reynolds | 2nd Place | [35] |
Best New Filmmaker | Paul Thomas Anderson (also for Hard Eight) | Won | ||
British Independent Film Awards | Best Foreign Independent Film – English Language | Won | ||
British Academy Film Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Burt Reynolds | Nominated | [36] |
Best Original Screenplay | Paul Thomas Anderson | Nominated | ||
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Best Film | Nominated | [37] | |
Best Director | Paul Thomas Anderson | Nominated | ||
Best Supporting Actor | Burt Reynolds | Won | ||
Best Supporting Actress | Julianne Moore | Nominated | ||
Chlotrudis Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | [38] | |
Critics' Choice Awards | Best Picture | Nominated | [39] | |
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards | Best Picture | Nominated | ||
Best Supporting Actor | Burt Reynolds | Won | ||
European Film Awards | Screen International Award | Paul Thomas Anderson | Nominated | [40] |
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Julianne Moore | Won | [41] |
Best Cast | Won | |||
Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture | Burt Reynolds | Won | [42] |
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | Julianne Moore | Nominated | ||
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Burt Reynolds | Won | [43] |
London Film Critics Circle Awards | Film of the Year | Nominated | ||
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Burt Reynolds | Won | [44] |
Best Supporting Actress | Julianne Moore | Won | ||
New Generation Award | Paul Thomas Anderson | Won | ||
MTV Movie Awards | Best Breakthrough Performance | Heather Graham | Won | |
Best Dance Sequence | Mark Wahlberg – "Machine Gun" | Nominated | ||
National Board of Review Awards | Top Ten Films | 7th Place | [45] | |
National Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Film | 3rd Place | [46] | |
Best Director | Paul Thomas Anderson | 3rd Place | ||
Best Supporting Actor | Burt Reynolds | Won | ||
Best Supporting Actress | Julianne Moore | Won | ||
New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Burt Reynolds | Won | [47] |
Online Film & Television Association Awards | Best Drama Picture | Paul Thomas Anderson, Lloyd Levin, John S. Lyons, and JoAnne Sellar | Nominated | [48] |
Best Director | Paul Thomas Anderson | Nominated | ||
Best Drama Actress | Julianne Moore | Nominated | ||
Best Supporting Actor | Burt Reynolds | Won | ||
Best Supporting Actress | Julianne Moore | Won | ||
Best Original Screenplay | Paul Thomas Anderson | Nominated | ||
Best Costume Design | Mark Bridges | Nominated | ||
Best Film Editing | Dylan Tichenor | Nominated | ||
Best Production Design | Bob Ziembicki and Sandy Struth | Nominated | ||
Best Ensemble | Nominated | |||
Hall of Fame – Motion Picture | Inducted | [49] | ||
Online Film Critics Society Awards | Best Director | Paul Thomas Anderson | Nominated | [50] |
Best Supporting Actor | Burt Reynolds | Won | ||
Best Screenplay | Paul Thomas Anderson | Nominated | ||
PEN America Literary Awards | Screenplay | Won | ||
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Burt Reynolds | Won | |
Satellite Awards | Best Motion Picture – Drama | Nominated | [51] | |
Best Director | Paul Thomas Anderson | Nominated | ||
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama | Mark Wahlberg | Nominated | ||
Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Drama | Burt Reynolds | Won | ||
Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Drama | Julianne Moore | Won | ||
Best Original Screenplay | Paul Thomas Anderson | Nominated | ||
Best Film Editing | Dylan Tichenor | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble | Won | |||
Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | Don Cheadle, Heather Graham, Luis Guzmán, Philip Baker Hall, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Thomas Jane, Ricky Jay, William H. Macy, Alfred Molina, Julianne Moore, Nicole Ari Parker, John C. Reilly, Burt Reynolds, Robert Ridgely, Mark Wahlberg, and Melora Walters | Nominated | [52] [53] |
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role | Burt Reynolds | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role | Julianne Moore | Nominated | ||
Society of Camera Operators | Historical Shot | Andy Shuttleworth | Won | [54] |
Society of Texas Film Critics Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Burt Reynolds | Nominated | |
Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards | Best Picture | 4th Place | [55] | |
Best Supporting Actress | Julianne Moore | Nominated | ||
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards | Worst On-Screen Couple | Mark Wahlberg and his fake 13-inch appendage | Nominated | [56] |
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards | Best Director | Paul Thomas Anderson | Runner-up | [57] |
Toronto International Film Festival | Metro Media Award | Won[a] | ||
Turkish Film Critics Association Awards | Best Foreign Film | 8th Place | ||
Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen | Paul Thomas Anderson | Nominated | [58] |