Boogie Nights is out now in a long-overdue 4K Blu-ray release, and is understandably, a big step up from when Entertainment In Video put out a DVD in 1999 which was cropped to 1.85:1!
The film tells the story of seventeen-year-old busboy Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg, at the time best known as being brother of New Kids On The Block member Donnie, and occasional rapper ‘Marky Mark’), working in the kitchen of the Hot Traxx nightclub in the San Fernando Valley in 1977, before being discovered by veteran adult movie-maker Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds, putting in an engaging performance which makes you wonder why he’s spent the previous decade throwing his career down the toilet) after he learns of Eddie’s “talent”, which is alluded to by one’s “donkey-dick” reference.
Yes, Eddie has a great big penis and it’s no secret. It’s also going to net him a lot of money once he enters the adult film world as Dirk Diggler, but with the freedom that money provides comes responsbility – something he steers shy of as his social circle expands to include narcotics which disappear up his nose faster than the friends he acquires once he becomes too big for his boots and his career takes a devastating tumble, leading him to wonder if he’ll ever find a way out.
If there’s one thing this film does have in spades, it’s a great cast. Julianne Moore (Sharper) plays Amber Waves, coming to Eddie’s aid as an experienced porn star, who becomes his first on film and sees him as someone she wants to ‘mother’ over. William H Macy has made a career of being the ‘down-trodden man’, this time being no different as one of Horner’s employees with an unfaithful wife – another pornstar, but one who doesn’t care whether it’s for money or pleasure as she sleeps with every guy in town, even right under her husband’s nose. Her character is played by a real porn star too, Nina Hartley. The cast also includes Lost In Space‘s Heather Graham (Horns) as yet another porn actress, Rollergirl, John C Reilly (Kong: Skull Island) as Eddie’s best friend Reed Rothchild, and Alfred Molina (Spider-Man: No Way Home More Fun Stuff Version) in a cameo as a manic drug dealer with a firecracker-loving friend and a bouncer who makes Vanessa Feltz look anorexic!
Although writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson is finally coming to the fore with One Battle After Another, while I wasn’t big on that one, I absolutely love Boogie Nights, and his 1999 opus, Magnolia. PLEASE let’s have a 4K release of that!
The film is presented in the original 2.39:1 aspect ratio, and is in 2160p high definition. It’s a gorgeous master of the movie, and I spotted zero issues while watching it. If there’s any deviation in quality, technically, that’s only because while the film is generally shot on 35mm and Anamorphic Panavision, the porn scenes are either shot on 16mm for ’70s content, and Video for the ’80s.
The sound booms out like the film content, is spot-on though. It’s presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and contains one classic track after another as the film runs from the late ’70s to the early ’80s, including Best of My Love (The Emotions), Brand New Key (Melanie), Lonely Boy (Andrew Gold), Fooled Around and Fell in Love (Elvin Bishop), Jesse’s Girl (Rick Springfield), God Only Knows (The Beach Boys), 99 Red Balloons (Nena), Livin’ Thing (Jeff Lynne), and my favourite from the whole film, Mama Told Me Not To Come from Three Dog Night.
For the extras, there’s quite a bit to get stuck into:
- American Cinematheque Panels: Two Q&A panels from 2 of the 5 nights they premiered the 70mm print of Boogie Nights. The first night is with both Paul Thomas Anderson and John C Reilly (24:47), and the second night is Paul Thomas Anderson on his own (25:40).
Music video (3:14): Try, by Michael Penn, with optional commentary from Mr Anderson. It’s a one-take video, and also includes a cameo from Philip Seymour Hoffman. I watched both versions, and really enjoyed this. His 1990 album, March, was also incredible, hving been introduced to it by local Stockport radio station KFM, and the track, No Myth.
Additional Footage: The John C Reilly Files (14:45): Rough-cut footage.
Deleted Scenes with optional commentary (29:32): 10 scenes are included. I watched it without the commentary, and while not many need to be put back in, but there’s an interesting scene when Maurice finally gets a shot at \the big-time, and with Rollergirl, as well as an extra scene in the recording studio, where Michael Penn gets a cameo as Nick the Engineer.
Audio Commentaries: Two of them here: One from Paul Thomas Anderson, and one from cast members Mark Wahlberg, John C Reilly, Don Cheadle, Julianne Moore, William H Macy and Heather Graham.
Boogie Nights Special Edition is out now on 4K Blu-ray Steelbook and 4K Blu-ray, as well as an earlier release on Blu-ray.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
10 10 10 5 |
|
OVERALL |
8.5 |
Cert: 
Running time: 155 minutes
Year: 1997
Chapters: 37
Cat.No: 5000317590
Distributor: Warner Bros
Released: December 15th 2025
Picture: 2160p High Definition
Language: English
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1: English, Parisian French, German, Castillian Spanish; Dolby Digital 2.0: Latin Spanish
Widescreen: 2.39:1 (35mm) (Anamorphic Panavision); 16mm (’70s porno), Video (NTSC, ’80s porno)
Subtitles (4K Blu-ray): English SDH, French, Italian, Castillian Spanish, Latin Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Czech, Polish
Disc Format: BD100
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Producers: Lloyd Levin, John Lyons, Paul Thomas Anderson and Joanne Sellar
Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson
Music: Michael Penn
Cast:
Eddie Adams/Dirk Diggler: Mark Wahlberg
Jack Horner: Burt Reynolds
Amber Waves: Julianne Moore
Maurice T. Rodriguez: Luis Guzman
Floyd Gondolli: Philip Baker Hall
Buck Swope: Don Cheadle
Scotty: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Little Bill: William H Macy
Rollergirl: Heather Graham
Reed Rothchild: John C Reilly
The Colonel: Robert Ridgely
Rahad Jackson: Alfred Molina
Little Bill’s wife: Nina Hartley
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.