Review Detail

I'm going to differ from the other reviews here by not making any sex puns and just giving it to you straight. Hmmm... Well, look, this was only my first re-watch of Boogie Nights and I think it hasn't aged as well as I'd imagined. I think a lot of what I loved about the film was its unpredictability, that I didn't know what to expect from PTA's style, or from latter-day Burt, or from young Wahlberg and cast. Everything was refreshing. But now we've seen a lot of these elements repeated in other films, and it's hard to go back. So how does that affect this edit?

Well, having all these deleted scenes back in (expertly, I might add) seems like it might be too much of a good thing. Wahlberg doing his "earnest, high-voiced" thing, Don Cheadle deadpan riffing, and oh my god...John C. Reilly. Now that we've seen his over-the-top improv statements in so many other films, I found it almost impossible to believe him as a character in this. It just made every scene into Step Brothers. This is probably intensified by the nature of the deleted scenes, that most of them are extended riffing... the "Under the Table" doing-coke-heist-planning-scene in particular just seems to go on for-ev-er. I mean, it's good...they're ALL good...but added back in, they change the tone of the film. (It's also problematic in that the only "black" relationship in the film is now portrayed as a jarringly discordant abusive relationship, as opposed to all the loving white relationships...)

I'd advise watching the movie like this ONCE. After you've seen it, and you're a fan, invite some people over and have drinks and laugh at it. But watch the original cut first so you can appreciate the drama of this misshapen f*d up porn family. The original cut probably has juuuust enough dark humor to make the drama hit. But a giant, extended thanks to Neglify for cutting together this very interesting alternate way to view the film.