A beautifully made survey of '70s excess, filtered through the trashy world of the burgeoning porno film industry in southern California.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 28, 2019

The pop 1970s were typified in part by cheesy fashions, ephemeral music and a regular diet of daring, cutting-edge movies that arguably made that decade Hollywood's richest. Blistering Boogie Nights recaptures the spirit of that time on all three counts.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 10, 2018

The Tarantino comparison is ultimately less about technique than a shared joyful electricity of the filmmaking, the sense of an artist clearly high on the sheer act of making a movie.

| Oct 30, 2017

Nights humanized these actors and made them live beyond their reputations.

| Original Score: B+ | Sep 12, 2017

Boogie Nights, an epic tale of porn, pleasure, and excess, offers a purer hit of exhilaration than any movie this year.

| Original Score: A | Feb 4, 2010

Not since the mysteriously reclusive Terrence Malick has there been such an explosion of sheer talent on the American movie scene.

| Apr 27, 2007

Considering the potentially explosive nature of the yarn, set in the porn world, Anderson's strategy is remarkably nonjudgmental and nonsensationalistic, largely due to his love and respect for all the characters and his impressive storytelling skills.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | May 1, 2006

In terms of sweep, ambition and precocious cinematic competence, it heralds the arrival of a new talent.

| Feb 9, 2006

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.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 18, 2002

Anderson, a director who makes no secret of his admiration for both Scorsese and the similarly iconic Robert Altman is clearly talented but here, rather than being his own man, he only succeeds in flattering his idols.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 27, 2001

The film is bemused and entertained, as we are, by this pack of sexual extremists, and the eye it casts on them is both benevolent and wry.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 14, 2001

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 1, 2000

Boogie Nights is truly audacious because Anderson doesn't beat you over the head with his daring. In the first half, he goes about turning conventional morality on its head nonchalantly, almost sweetly.

| Jan 1, 2000

Everything about Boogie Nights is interestingly unexpected, even the few seconds of darkness before the film's neon title blasts onto the screen. The director, Paul Thomas Anderson, [displays talent that] is as big and exuberant as skywriting.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 1, 2000

Boogie Nights at heart is the story about a group of characters and the de facto family that emerges from their relationship. A stunning ensemble of actors is essential to creating this seamless world.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 1, 2000

As a writer and director, Paul Thomas Anderson is a skilled reporter who fills his screen with understated, authentic details.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 1, 2000