Word: amber
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Burt Reynolds plays the patriarch, Jack Horner, an idealist porn director convinced that his films are art. With his wife Amber Waves (Julianne Moore), Jack serves as a surrogate parent to his actors: Eddie, whom he finds working as a runner in a disco; Rollergirl (Heather Graham), named for the rollerskates that never leave her feet, even when the rest of her clothing do; and Reed Rothschild (John C. Reilly), Eddie's boyish sidekick. This family, which includes a few other "stars" and crew members like Little Bill (William H. Macy) and Buck Swope (Don Cheadle), proves surprisingly endearing...
...believe that his films might actually be good (until we see how hilariously bad they really are). Jack, who has the delicacy to use terms like "Mr. Torpedo" rather than filthier terms for male genitalia, comes across as an honest and decent man despite his dissolute profession. Moore, as Amber Waves, also manages to display a certain sweetness despite her character's drug use and suspect "acting" career...
Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds, relaxed and in charge) is a director with a dream: he wants to make a film that keeps customers in the theater even after they've been sexually satisfied. His lover and star, Amber Waves (a nicely wasted Julianne Moore), is almost as devoted to the son she never sees as she is to her cocaine stash. Rollergirl (Heather Graham, before whose beauty all gentlemen genuflect) performs sex on skates. And Eddie (Mark Wahlberg, a nice surprise) is just a dim, polite kid, not strong enough for the burden of stardom...
...eccentricity: they don't mind making the most intimate act of their lives a spectator sport. They see no reason to explain this, and neither does this defiantly noncommittal film. At the start, for example, Eddie is already exhibiting himself for money. We don't learn why he and Amber and Rollergirl descended into the netherworld of sexual showmanship; they have dwelt in that Valley from the start...
This story was reported by Marc J. Ambinder, Richard M. Burnes, Adam S. Hickey, Ethan M. Katz, Nicholas A. Nash, Amber L. Ramage and Heather F. Stone...