Do I like Boogie Nights?

 Fuck yes. End of post....JK!

But serial, this movie is lightning in a bottle, it's a canary in a coal mine, it's the chocolate to my peanut butter, I'm soaking in it!

I'm not a movie re-watcher, but I saw this in the theater and I've watched it at least once more later, probably more. Nevertheless, it had to have been at least a decade so I was watching with fresh eyes.

This movie is just so appealing! It's like a warm hug from a polyester double knit garment. It's a fairy tale. I noticed the structure more this time - joyful and on the upswing for almost exactly the first half, peaks on NYE 79 and then starts to go down, down, down, then on to the happy ending we crave that does not feel cheap. Yes, Scotty doesn't get his man, Amber still doesn't have her son, and it's not that realistic that Dirk would kick drugs but I don't care. They are a chosen family and I want them to be together.

The set piece in this one is the drug dealer, Sister Christian scene, which is just as fun as I remember. There is a good use of music in this movie (foreshadowing for my take on the poor use in Magnolia). It's pretty perfect in fact, and I am as sick of these songs as anyone, but they work.

Marky Mark is problematic as hell, and in his uptight Catholic later years he has disavowed this movie, but he has for sure never reached these heights again.

Still not loving John C. Reilly, maybe ever. I think he could disappear from this movie and it would not be much worse off despite being the source of a couple laughs.

This movie is ecstatic, energizing and so fun and it ends with male full frontal - what's not to like!!!

Trippy food for thought: it came out in 97, probably filmed in 96, and set in the late 70s/early 80s. So despite the campy fashion and tunes, it was filmed about 15-ish years after the dates depicted. And now it has been out for 24 years!!!! But think back to like 15 years ago and it feels to me like not a whole ton has changed in fashion and music. Probably just part of getting older, but that was tripping me out when I thought about it.