When I learned the release date of Boogie Nights was being pushed farther and farther back as the creators tried to cut the erotic material down for an R rating, I have to admit my interest was peaked.

The main focus of the film concerns the rise and fall of a well-endowed young porn star. The movie centers around the porn business and the lifestyle of a family of porn stars, producers and hangers-on between 1977 and 1983.

According to Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), the main character in this raunchy new flick, everybody is born with something special something that allows him or her to do things no one else can.

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For the 17-year-old Adams, his special characteristic is an extremely large, um, thing that lands him a job as an actor in the adult entertainment industry.

Discovered by porn director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds), Adams changes his name to Dirk Diggler and soon becomes the next big thing in the porn world. Diggler is welcomed into the extended family of adult entertainment professionals and quickly moves to the top of the late 70s porn world.

As a director, Horner sees himself as sort of a porn purist. His dream is to make movies with interesting plots (the clips are hilarious) that will keep people in the theater after reaching their own physical pleasure. And Horner succeeds, if only for a while.

Success soon becomes excess for the family and Diggler as drugs, money and the quest for real love begin to overcome their lives.

Boogie Nights has its fair share of erotic skin and sex. But the movie really works because of how it focuses on what makes the pornography business run.

The acting is superb all around as well. Reynolds deserves some credit for his easy-going portrayal of Horner. And Wahlberg (he will always be Marky Mark to me) is great as the clueless, almost naive porn star.