trappings

Just because something looks and feels like a highbrow, more considerate true crime offering doesn’t mean that it can’t be undone by the genre’s same trappings.

For a man who always liked the trappings of royalty, the pomp and the ceremony, the loss of his titles is deeply humiliating.

"The further they get into the game, the more of the celebrity trappings get left behind and the less important their fame becomes, which means it really doesn't matter that they're celebrities at all."

Some may see his truth as a superficial one, but it’s a truth nonetheless, and it’s when he decides to excavate it onscreen that “Jay Kelly” rises above its more shallow, glitzy trappings.

There now seems to be a bit of snickering immaturity in the film’s garish period trappings, though the emotional acuity and empathetic consideration of even the most minor of characters still makes “Boogie Nights” remarkable.