Boogie Nights: Classic or Dud

Both BN and IV are pretty cartoony, but imo Inherent Vice tries too hard and isn’t very funny, while Boogie Nights tries much, much too hard, but has funny moments, even if it’s too glib about its characters’ suffering, in that very 1990s post-Tarantino way

otm. yeah when i rewatched BN a few years ago and it felt a lot more broad and sitcom-y than i remembered, constantly telling you that its characters are idiots in a specific way that feels very of its time now. still funny imo.

i completely forgot that the mp/yp construction was in Boogie Nights. ive definitely heard it at various times over the years since and never clocked it as a BN reference. mindblowing if thats actually the coinage.

Boogie Nights has so many characters that are poorly hiding their personal issues and pain, with most of the tragedies played off as comedic as to not turn it into a different movie

That’s probably the through-line in a lot of PTA’s work, whether he’s cloaking tragedy with comedy or presenting genuinely harrowing things punctuated with a series of punchlines

I suppose that glibness about tragedy is also just a sign of a filmmaker in their 20s

It does allow some moments of real pain, particularly for Julianne Moore's character. But some things, like William H. Macy's character, are definitely played more kind of as pathetic punchlines.

imo Inherent Vice tries too hard and isn’t very funny

sigh

pretty much all of his films are very funny though

I think PTA absolutely views most of his own films as comedies

The final line of There Will Be Blood makes me crack up every time

I can't remember it, but my brain wants to say it's "nobody's perfect!"

I could’ve sworn it was “ain’t I stinker?”

I thought it was Slim Pickens saying “Yahooo!”
#OneThread

“I’M FINISHED!”

Our 70mm run of Paul Thomas Anderson's BOOGIE NIGHTS must end Thursday! Below are 📸 of the actual print you will see!

Don't miss the party of the summer. 🎟️: https://t.co/oXN2lvB3jY pic.twitter.com/xs6VIJ7fUj

— Film at Lincoln Center (@FilmLinc) August 22, 2023

might hit this up, hardly remember the movie

saw it for the first time last year... it absolutely ruled as a big screen experience.

His name is...Carne Asada.

His partner's name is...Doctor Casino.

Those are great names!

"You know my reputation. 70 millimeters of tough load..."