The New York Times recently published an excellent profile of Paul Thomas Anderson. (According to reports, the famously reclusive Pynchon even makes a cameo in the film.) through a series of shady conspiracies, morally-questionable circumstances, and SoCal tableaus featuring a delightful range of actors including Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Jena Malone, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Eric Roberts, Martin Short, and Maya Rudolph. The investigation seems to lead Phoenix’s pot-head P.I. Adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s 70s-set, drug-drenched novel, the film features Phoenix as “gum-sandal” detective Doc Sportello, who begins investigating a mystery at the insistence of a former girlfriend, played by Katherine Waterston. Ill take this as progress.Two years after The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson returns to theaters with another Joaquin Phoenix collaboration, Inherent Vice. I'm beginning to worry a little about this as he really isn't my cup of tea yet along with this and Grand Budapest Hotel and Midnight In Paris have been films that haven't made me feel like I want to running head-butt my TV. The cast is great though and once again I didn't mind Owen Wilson in a film. Especially the painfully pretentious The Master and ive always felt he is more of a director for the critics than the great unwashed. With the exception of Magnolia (admittedly also weird with raining frogs) ive never been a big fan of Paul Thomas Andersons work. (Reese Wetherspoon) and Docs bonkers lawyer who specialises in Maritime cases (Benicio Del Toro) and you have a bizarre mix. Throw in an overly aggressive loner cop (Brolin), Docs occasional girlfriend from the D.A. the beginning) and this doesn't really change throughout. This plan is being hatched by the tycoon's wife and her boyfriend and things start to get confusing from this point (i.e. Supreme stoner and all round druggie Doc (Phoenix) is a private investigator in the hippy 70s (I think, might be the 60s) who is visited by an old girlfriend who informs him of a complex plot to abduct her rich property tycoon boyfriend. More Incoherent Vice than Inherent Vice in my opinion and whilst I didn't understand much of what was going on I did enjoy certain aspects of it especially Josh Brolin and Joaquin Phoenix's performances. Are patience is tested, and eventually, wasted, on a film which seemingly lacks respect for what storytelling should always be.Ī frustrating, however professional, mess of a film. At first we admire the eccentric nature of the film, but this soon wears thin, with the 2.5 hour run time being keenly felt. If the audience doesn't feel let in, it becomes nearly impossible to empathize, to anticipate, and to enjoy. There is plenty of intrigue, and the actors are all highly competent, yet Anderson overplays this. The characters are fun to watch, certainly, and the scenarios are often humorous, to be sure. Red herrings populate the screen, leaving no coherent or decipherable plot line to be followed. The script, however, is a meandering mess of an incoherent story. The mood is pitch perfect for noir, and the dialogue rich with complexity. The film has an amazing cast, all of whom bring their best to the table. Inherent Vice is, unfortunately, largely an example of the latter. Other times, however, his work becomes almost self-involved, inaccessible, and adrift in its own pretensions (Magnolia). When at his best, his films are mature, enveloping, and leave you felling intelligently tested (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, The Master). Lengthy, convoluted, relentlessly incoherent and yet professionally composed, Inherent Vice is a frustrating film it refuses to be bad, and yet refuses to let you in its story.ĭirected by Paul Thomas Anderson, it has all of his hallmark traits, stylized dialogue, long takes, methodical story building, and an almost surrealist tone. Rating: R (Graphic Nudity|Drug Use Throughout|Language|Sexual Content|Some Violence) When Mickey and Shasta both disappear, Doc navigates a psychedelic world of surfers, stoners and cops to solve the case. One day, Shasta, a former lover, arrives out of the blue to plead for Doc's help it seems that Shasta's current beau, rich real-estate tycoon Mickey Wolfmann, has a wife who may be plotting to commit him to a mental hospital. In a California beach community, private detective Larry "Doc" Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) tends to work his cases through a smoky haze of marijuana.
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