History Film / BoogieNights

* RunningGag [[GagPenis Penis]]: Dirk's.

* DoingItForTheArt: In-universe, this is what Horner wants to do... or at least get people to stay in their seats after they've finished what they came for. ([[WesternAnimation/{{Archer}} Phrasing!]])

* TechnologyMarchesOn: Played for drama in-universe. Jack Horner refuses to convert from shooting his movies on film to shooting on VHS as he's DoingItForTheArt and he believes video limits the quality of the image and cheapens the whole pornographic industry because any amateur could stick a cassette in a camera. Unfortunately, the industry as well as its customers don't agree with him.

* MoodWhiplash: At first glance, the movie comes of as a fun, light-hearted portrayal of the golden age of porn. [[spoiler:At least until the [[AssPull New Year's Eve party]] where Dirk is introduced to cocaine and Little Bill shoots his wife, her lover and himself. Needless to say, the film gets darker ''fast''.]]

However, the luxuries this affords Diggler and his fellow actors come with a high price, especially when those luxuries begin to include increasing amounts of [[DrugsAreBad cocaine]]. Many of the actors also struggle to find success or happiness outside their adult film careers, as Dirk's co-star and mother figure Amber Waves (Creator/JulianneMoore) loses a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband, while another co-star, Rollergirl (Creator/HeatherGraham), drops out of high school after her career makes her an object of cruel mockery by fellow students), and Buck Swope (Creator/DonCheadle) is unable to secure the loan that would enable him to break into business. [[EndOfAnAge The industry itself is also changing]] with the rise of videotape, and Jack Horner's dream of making PornWithPlot is destined to fall by the wayside.

* AffablyEvil: The Colonel. At first he's a friendly, charming older gentleman who happens to like his girls (very) young. We get an early hint that he's not right when one of these girls overdoses at his party, and his reaction is ''irritation that one of his young studs got bad drugs''. It's not until much later that we really see what a horrible human being he really is.

* BadassBystander: Subverted. When Buck was buying donuts, the store suddenly gets held up by a drunk or drugged man with a gun. A customer seated at that donut shop who had his own firearm fires at the robber, but he also ended up getting himself and the donut clerk killed, ending the situation in a far more tragic place than had he not intervened.

* ContrastMontage: More of a Parallel Montage. In the 80s, Jack's attempt to film a random person on the street having sex with Rollergirl in the back seat of a limo are intercut with Dirk being asked to masturbate for another man's entertainment in a pickup truck. It's revealed at the end of both scenes that they're in the same place, with the pickup trucks joining the same road that the limo is driving down.

* DoingItForTheArt: In-universe, this is what Horner wants to do...or at least get people to stay in their seats after they've finished what they came for. ([[WesternAnimation/{{Archer}} Phrasing!]])

* AffablyEvil: The Colonel. At first he's a friendly, charming older gentleman who happens to like his girls (very) young. It's not till later that we really see what a horrible human being he really is.

* EveryoneHasStandards: While Jack Horner has little problem with the Colonel's obvious penchant for teenage girls who are clearly somewhere below the statutory age-of-consent limit, he is utterly disgusted and breaks with him completely upon discovering that the Colonel's tastes extend to pre-pubescent children.

* TwoDecadesBehind: The movie came out in 1997 while the story is set in the late 1970s/early 1980s.

* FriendsAreChosenFamilyArent: Dirk has this with regard to his own parents--his mother thinks he's a stupid, useless loser--and his symbolic "parents" Jack And Amber, who adore him, at least until he becomes insufferable. Even then, when he apologises, they welcome him back into the fold.

* HappyEndingOverride: [[spoiler: When the 1980's roll around, most if not all of the character's lives are ruined. Dirk falls into cocaine addiction, Amber loses custody of her child, Buck struggles to open a stereo store and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Jack has to shoot on videotape instead of film.]] Things get better, though.]]

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler: When the 1980's roll around, most if not all of the character's lives are ruined. Dirk falls into cocaine addiction, Amber loses custody of her child, Buck struggles to open a stereo store and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Jack has to shoot on videotape instead of film.]] Things get better, though.]]
** A more specific example during the donut store robbery. [[spoiler: An armed bystander tries to be a hero and shoots the robber, but he himself is shot in the chest and killed, causing him to accidentally splatter the brains of the innocent employee all over Buck.]]

However, the luxuries this affords Diggler and his fellow actors come with a high price, especially when those luxuries begin to include increasing amounts of [[DrugsAreBad cocaine.]] Many of the actors are also struggling to reconcile their adult film careers with either their previous lives (Dirk's co-star and mother figure Amber Waves (Creator/JulianneMoore) is in a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband; another co-star, Rollergirl (Creator/HeatherGraham), drops out of high school after her career makes her an object of cruel mockery by fellow students) or their futures outside pornography. [[EndOfAnAge The industry itself is also changing]] with the rise of videotape, and some careers are destined to fall by the wayside.

* NotSoAboveItAll: The frat boy from the "On The Lookout" experiment. His earlier mockery of Rollergirl's porn career helped drive her to drop out of school, and he refuses to give his name to Jack on camera... yet he's happy to try to have sex with Rollergirl all the same.

* AbusiveParents: Eddie/Dirk's parents. His mother beats him savagely and calls him stupid for dropping out of high school, while his father does not lift a finger to interfere.

* BerserkButton: Never insult Jack Horner's films.

* CoitusUninterruptus: A RunningGag with Little Bill walking in on his wife having sex with another man several times during the first half of the film, and she simply carries on as though he isn't there. [[spoiler:Until the last time, when Little Bill shoots her, her lover, and then himself.]]

* DrugsAreBad: [[spoiler:''Especially'' if you have to prostitute yourself and get beaten up in your attempts to feed your habit. Cocaine and crystal methamphetamine destroy Dirk's film career by causing his inability to perform sexually, making him short-tempered enough to lash out at Jack and quit the industry, and forcing him, Reed, and Todd Parker to resort to increasingly desperate and illegal measures to fund their collective habit.]]

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Rollergirl is only ever referred to as such [[spoiler:except by her former high school classmate, who addresses her by her real name of Brandy.]]

** Little Bill gets no love (physical or emotional) from his wife, who constantly humiliates him by not only sleeping with other men in public, but acting as if he's the one in the wrong when he protests. [[spoiler: Things turn tragic when her actions lead him to murder her and then commit suicide, and in public no less.]]

* HorribleHollywood: Played with. In a larger context, the porn industry is clearly this, being corrupt, exploitative and more than a bit shady (several of the producers are implied to have mob ties and ''definitely'' have rather unpleasant perversions). But when focusing on the main characters, while they are a bit dim, spoiled and [[IncestSubtext vaguely incestuous]], [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold they clearly love each other as something like a family.]]

** This backfires on Amber. After trying to convince her ex to let her talk to her son, when her son finally does call he's told there's no-one there by that name.

* IWasBornReady: Dirk says this twice.

** Buck successfully steals the money from the donut shop after everyone inside has been shot dead and uses it to open up his stereo store and is never caught.
* KickThemWhileTheyreDown: Rollergirl does this to her former high school classmate after Jack has already had his share of beating the latter up and is being restrained by the limo driver and cameraman.

* MoodDissonance: The Drug Heist scene is a masterclass in MoodDissonance, managing to be unbearably tense, terrifying, surreal and hilarious all at the same time.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Amber introduces Dirk to cocaine. His addiction spirals out of control until it makes him unable to perform and damages his personal and professional relationship with Jack.

** Dirk Diggler is clearly based upon John Holmes, from his prodigious member, to the botched drug heist that was an allusion to the Wonderland murders. Dirk even mentions Holmes at one point.

* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: After Buck Swope is denied a very important loan from the only bank he can go to to open up his electronics store because of his past connections to the porn industry, he resorts to taking cash from a donut store that he by a very lucky coincidence was at while it was being held up by a robber who forced the donut clerk at gunpoint to empty out his vault.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Rollergirl, as her former high school classmate finds out to his cost when he sneers at the life she has made for herself since dropping out.

* BittersweetEnding: The porn industry has changed greatly, and not exactly for the better, but the characters are eventually reunited as a family, Dirk kicks the drugs, and Amber, Reed and Rollergirl begin to spread their wings outside of being limited to working in the porn industry (Amber directs the commercial for Buck's hi-fi store, Reed launches a moderately successful magic act, and Rollergirl finally gets her GED).

* ClusterFBomb: [[spoiler:Jack and Rollergirl both drop one while beating the tar out of the frat boy who insults them during the abortive "On the Lookout" experiment.]]
* CoitusUninterruptus: A RunningGag with Little Bill walking in on his wife having sex with another man several times during the first half of the film, and she simply carries on as though he isn't there.
* TheCon: Dirk and his friends attempt to scam Rahad Jackson with fake drugs. They might have gotten away with passing off talcum powder as heroin if a coked-up Todd hadn't gotten more demanding, causing the whole scam to [[GoneHorriblyWrong go horribly wrong]].

* DrugsAreBad: [[spoiler:''Especially'' if you have to give handjobs and get the crap kicked out of you to feed your habit. Cocaine and crystal methamphetamine destroy Dirk's film career by causing his inability to perform sexually, making him short-tempered enough to lash out at Jack and quit the industry, and forcing him, Reed, and Todd Parker to resort to increasingly desperate and illegal measures to fund their collective habit.]]

* MoodWhiplash: At first glance, the movie comes of as a fun, light-hearted portrayal of the golden age of porn. [[spoiler:At least until the [[New Year's Eve party]] where Dirk is introduced to cocaine and Little Bill shoots his wife, her lover and himself. Needless to say, the film gets darker ''fast''.]]

* MoodWhiplash: At first glance, the movie comes of as a fun, light-hearted portrayal of the golden age of porn. [[spoiler:At least until the [[ShockingSwerve New Year's Eve party]] where Dirk is introduced to cocaine and Little Bill shoots his wife, her lover and himself. Needless to say, the film gets darker ''fast''.]]

* BeatBag: Dirk and his friends attempt this on Rahad Jackson. They might have gotten away with passing off talcum powder as heroin if a coked-up Todd hadn't gotten more demanding, causing the whole scam to [[GoneHorriblyWrong go horribly wrong]].

* {{Cuckold}}: A RunningGag has Little Bill catch his wife having sex with strangers while [[SleepsWithEveryoneButYou supposedly he doesn't get any action from her]].

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: [[spoiler:During Amber’s custody hearing, Amber tries to deny her own problems, but then admits she’s been arrested when the judge straight up asks her. The judge then asks “When was the last time you were arrested and what was the charge?” We next see Amber outside a sobbing mess, having lost custody of her son.]]

* DoingItForTheArt: In-universe, this is what Horner wants to do... or at least get people to stay in their seats after they've finished what they came for. ([[WesternAnimation/{{Archer}} Phrasing!]])

* DirtyOldMan: Colonel James is seen with a series of extremely young, often underage, girls during the film. [[spoiler:This point is driven home rather well when we see him in prison, and he implies that when the police raided his house after his latest underage girl died of a massive cocaine overdose, they found pictures of children.]]

* AnatomicallyImpossibleSex: Not quite ''impossible'', but from what we see of Dirk's diggler in the final shot, even a seasoned porn star like Amber Waves would have significantly more trouble accommodating him than we see. And that's to say nothing of Dirk's "civilian" girlfriend Sheryl Lynn

* BlatantLies: During Amber’s custody hearing, her ex-husband points out Amber’s drug problem, to which Amber completely denies.

* TrueCompanions: In the "replacement family" sense - albeit quite an ncestuous one. Amber and Jack act as TeamMom and [[TeamDad Dad]], [[BigBrotherMentor Reed]] and [[BigLittleBrother Dirk]] are the brothers who [[SiblingRivalry start out wary of each other]] but [[SiblingTeam end up working together]], and Rollergirl is the daughter that never cleans her room. Kurt's the HonoraryUncle. All work out their respective issues with their birth families through this shared bond. These deeply felt relationships [[spoiler:are especially clear at the end of the movie after they've settled their differences and reunited.]] [[TruthInTelevision Due to all the prejudice they face, most porn stars only have friends in the business, and many of them can't even talk to their families anymore. Note that this is still true as of right now.]]