Review of Inherent Vice (2014) by Eero V — 29 Mar 2015

Paul Thomas Anderson's first two breakout pictures, Boogie Nights and Magnolia, were both subdued flow of events in the manner of Robert Altman, without a significant dramatic arc. His three next films (Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, The Master) were much more opaque and smaller in scope, and due to their "challenging" nature, some even started hailing Anderson as the new Stanley Kubrick.

Anderson's adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's 2009 novel (which is the first Pynchon novel ever adapted to screen) is once again unlike anything he has done before, mainly in the sense that it has a clear sense of humor and doesn't try to confuse the audience too much with ambiguous metaphors and seemingly pointless scenes (such as Freddie Quell's first dream sequence in The Master).

The word "accessible", however, isn't the one to describe Inherent Vice; its convoluted plot about a hippie private detective and his hallucinatory quest to solve the interweaving cases of the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend's millionaire lover, an allegedly dead saxophonist, and a drug trafficking organization involving a herd of muddle-headed dentists gets more and more confusing with every moment, and after the first hour at the latest, you won't even try to figure out the plot.

But surprisingly it doesn't bother, thanks to its many truly hilarious moments, razor-sharp dialogue and outstanding performances. Though the film clearly touches on the topics of the death of the hippie movement, the political division that still dominates the country today (typified by the inconvenient relationship between Doc Sportello and the no-nonsense Bigfoot Bjornsen), and the withering nature of humanity, there is no time to think about any of that during the film.

Following his great work in The Master and Her, Joaquin Phoenix is like at home playing the sympathetic Sportello, and Josh Brolin is clearly having a blast as Bjornsen, providing the funniest moments of the film with surprising comic energy that he hasn't shown before.

There is also greatly eccentric support from Owen Wilson, Benicio del Toro, and Martin Short. Inherent Vice requires the audience to plunge into its strange world without too much thought, and as such, it is likely the most polarizing film Anderson will ever make.

It amuses, strains and stupefies in equal measure, and most certainly gets added value on further viewings.