Review of Licorice Pizza (2021) by Theredsky — 10 Jan 2022

Paul Thomas Anderson releases another banger of a film. The characters, performances, and writing really sell this as one of the best films of the year. The one big talking point with this film that I have noticed is the age difference between the main characters.

Alana Haim’s character is 25 while Cooper Hoffman’s character is 15. If you’re looking from the outside then this can seem really weird and predatory but what I got out of this film is that that was the point.

These two characters aren’t supposed to be together. They are both incredibly toxic human beings who shouldn’t get together at all because of who they are. It makes their character moments more interesting because it is obvious that they care about each other and want to be friends but Gary doesn’t want that.

The relationships between the characters is fascinating to watch. Each character brings their own unique portrayal to the table even if they are only on screen for about 5-10 minutes. Bradley Cooper, Sean Penn, Benny Safdie, and Tom Waits being key examples.

They have limited screen time but that screen time is dedicated to furthering the relationship and toxicity between the main characters. All of the performances here are excellent especially from Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman who haven’t acted almost at all before and give potentially career bests.

The cinematography and music are once again top notch and Paul Thomas Anderson’s direction is one of the best of the year. I wouldn’t place it super high on my PTA ranking just because some of his others have left more of an impact on me.

I would definitely recommend checking this film out when you can as it’s definitely gonna get nominated for a lot of stuff.