Roger's Rating:

Boogie Nights was a movie about the porn industry and the people in it. Now we have the porn industry making an X-Rated movie based on that mainstream movie. The original was a brilliant piece of cinema and though there have been many imitations over the years, few in porn would have the stones to try a genuine adult version of such a film. Kurt Lockwood is doing just that with "The Real Boogie Nights." His last project "LA Vice" was also a rather ambitious movie. At times, Lockwood was in over his head with that one. With this porn-themed adult movie, he doesn't cut corners. It isn't just about funky second hand clothes and some disco music. That would be easy. This movie is much more than that. It is a fully scripted, stylized version of Paul Thomas Anderson's best film. This is a game plan with many pitfalls, but I'm a sucker for a good feature. I'm willing to give Lockwood's movie a full viewing before deciding if he's making a bold and brilliant move or throwing himself under a bus.

The movie starts exactly like the mainstream version, with a frantic trip through a disco. Kurt is a dishwasher from Maryland who catches the eye of porn maker Ron Jeremy. He takes the kid home and talks business just long enough for us to remember just how good Burt Reynolds was in the original before launching into the first sex scene. Sunny Lane plays Skater Girl and she lights up the screen as she breaks in the new guy. She delivers a first class blowjob with tons of spit and no hands for quite a while at the start. After riding for a while, she gets back down and sucks him again. This is certainly a hotter scene that we would normally expect from a feature and that's a good thing. Leaving her skates on for the entire scene, Sunny shows some real skill as she rolls onto her back and lets him pump away. It can't be easy to hold those heavy things up during piledriver. Kurt drop his ass onto her face to do something he "saw in a magazine." They both stay in character for the scene and that is good in some ways and bad in others. The doggy looks fantastic because of Sunny's superb backside. He finishes off with a big shot on her face and tongue. The scene could be trimmed a bit for tightness, but it is a good opening effort.

Back at home, Stevie is having a tough time getting to work because his girlfriend Hailey wants some good loving. They take dialog right from the first and then get busy. Both the dialog and the pace of the scene would make more sense if the scene came before the Skater Girl fuck. Hailey is cute enough and seem to be quite in love with Kurt's cock. For a skinny little thing she sure can bounce hard on a dick. Since she isn't the star and the scene is essentially a throw away at this point, it loses impact. Even the dialog coming from her mouth seems to indicate that this scene is in the wrong place. It's a decent scene that would have been perfect as the opener.

Stevie meets all of the porn crew and has to pick his porn name. Amber Lynn plays the experienced porn babe who gets to break the kid's on screen cherry. When the cameras roll, Kurt's "Aw shucks" dialog finally fits and Amber can be as over the top as she wants. She is overly impressed by the modest member that is supposed to be the star of the show. More impressive is the way she handles it orally, swallowing every inch until it's coated with spit and ready to slide into her hot hole. They hook up on the desk for some spirited mish. Amber sprawls her lets out and lets the new guy just pump away. He gives them a high energy scene with a big pop. A star is born.

After a flurry of success that brings him plenty of awards, Kurt gives drugs and directing a try. One of the scenes from his early "LA Vice" project features Marie Luv fucking horny cop Jack Lawrence. As usual, Marie shows off oral skills that just blow away the other girls. She takes that dick to the root with such ease that one has to wonder if she has any gag reflex at all. Jack rolls her onto her back, shoves her legs back and bangs her pretty little pussy. Marie gets on top and shows the kind of energy that would make any girl a star. I love the energy in this scene. Marie never slows down until after her shoots that load all over her lovely skin.

With Kurt basking in his success, they throw in another LA Vice sex scene. This time around, Tee hits it with Gwen Diamond. The energy level is good here as well, but it doesn't quite have the spark that Marie brought to the table. Tee turns in some good looking doggy when he bends the little blonde over and fills her tight little hole from behind. The reverse cowgirl is quite easy on the eyes and Gwen stays busy taking it all the way in there. In the end, she loves that load like it's a glitter eye shadow and downs it like she hasn't had protein in a month.

The industry rolls on and it quickly passes our stars by. We follow the downfall of the General, the introduction of video, Kurt's on set diva show and of course the big drug deal scene. None of these have any particular tension to them and I actually find myself longing for a random sex scene. This is probably a case of Lockwood taking on too much. This is a porn feature and there is no way in hell he's going to be able to duplicate the kind of raw tension and emotion that PT Anderson gave us with that wild drug deal scene. It probably would have been better to go in a completely different direction rather than offering up this flat and less than amusing version of events.

The big return to porn has Kurt fucking Gwen and Tiffany Price. While he didn't bring about the required emotion in the other scenes, he hits the nail on the head with the sexual energy in this scene. He tosses the girls around and fucks them with a fury that would be appropriate for both his character in the movie and in the movie within the movie. The girls move in and lick his ass as he continues to dish out the dick. The rougher nature of the sex, including the cum swapping and ass licking is both a climax for the character and a prophetic look at what is waiting on the porn horizon. OK, maybe I'm reaching, but that's how I saw it.

This movie is ambitious to a fault and that is both its biggest strength and greatest downfall. There are flashes of excellence, but Lockwood is definitely in over his head with this one. He tries to duplicate Anderson's style and just doesn't have what it takes to pull that off. That isn't a knock on Lockwood at all. Few directors in porn could come close to pulling it off so if anything, Kurt set himself up to fail by setting the bar so freaking high. It is stylish enough to be impressive if Lockwood hadn't gone for a Xerox of the original. Instead of looking edgy and cool it looks like a cheap copy. That didn't have to be the case. The script causes similar problems. While Boogie Nights was funny, touching and filled with tight dialog, this version fails because it tries so damn hard. The only leads who really stand out from an acting standpoint are Sunny Lane and Amber Lynn. Sunny can play this sort of happy, ditzy character in her sleep and Amber just delivers her lines without trying to overdo them. Much of the dialog falls on the shoulders of Lockwood and Jeremy. Ron just isn't as good as he could be here. There is a too much Ron and not enough of the character. Kurt's acting is uneven. He certainly can act so one has to wonder again if he bit off more than he can chew here. Perhaps sticking behind the camera and letting another actor take on this major role. I just didn't buy his "aw shucks" act. It came off silly rather than vulnerable. Part of the problem here is that he and the others are reciting dialog that many of us know by heart. It sounds less like acting and more like drunken friends parroting their favorite lines from a classic movie. Later, when Kurt has to switch into raging diva mode, he does a much better job. I know this will be a small thing to some of you, but his wig was just horrible. It was distracting and unnecessarily so. Sexually I like the movie. It has longer sex scenes than your average feature and that alone is reason to be pleased. They are well shot and have some serious heat. I think that Lockwood may have missed out a bit by only using Sunny in one scene. She shines as Skater Girl and is easily the hottest girl in the cast. Amber, Hailey, Marie, Gwen and Tiffany are all good as well. In fact, it is the sex that really carries The Real Boogie Nights. I would still suggest swapping out the first two sex scenes to build the story a bit more, but the scenes themselves are tough to knock. I applaud Kurt Lockwood for what he tried to do with this movie. I also applaud the sex scenes and the things that are done right here. It is clearly a candidate for feature of the year thanks to its many strengths and endearing qualities. This is just a case of way too much movie in the hands of a director who either isn't aware of his own limitations or is just instant in his refusal to let them stop him.

Copyright © Roger T. Pipe

Posted By Roger, www.excaliburfilms.com | 10/5/06 1:58 PM