2014 | Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson | 149 Minutes
"Eggs break, chocolate melts, glass shatters."
A lover from the past walks into the office of a private investigator, pleading with him to investigate a plot hatched by the wife of her current millionaire boyfriend to put him away for good. As the mystery unravels, two other apparently disparate cases are thrown into the mix but naturally, everything is connected in what ultimately amounts to an epic hairy dog story.
Based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice is a familiar detective yarn with a Viet Nam War Era psychedelic twist. With each twist and turn, director Paul Thomas Anderson's take on the story becomes more and more difficult to follow but remains consistently humorous from start to finish with snappy dialogue and numerous outrageous sight gags.
Joaquin Phoenix is paranoid stoner Doc Sportello, brilliant as the befuddled P.I. quickly discovering that he is in over his head, never sure if he is hallucinating, remarkably laidback until danger rears its head. Josh Brolin steals the picture as crooked L.A. cop Bigfoot Bjornsen. The interactions between Phoenix and Brolin are priceless, as the conflicting philosophies and investigative methods of their characters clash.
The film is narrated by Joanna Newsom as friend of Doc and ethereal hippy Sortilège, delivering vital exposition with an amusing side of new age philosophy. Though featured only briefly, Katherine Waterston is magnetic as this film's femme fatale Shasta Fay Hepworth. Rounding out the stellar cast are Hong Chau, Maya Rudolph, Benicio del Toro, Reese Witherspoon, Jena Malone, Owen Wilson, Martin Short, and Eric Roberts.
Inherent Vice is classic film noir wrapped in a stoner comedy. Though the plot of the film is at times impenetrable, the picture is exciting and reliably clever with each revelation.
FRAGMENTS
- Unless I really missed something, I can't help but wonder if Sortilège is real or if she just exists in Doc's head
- "Beware the Golden Fang" is pure undiluted pulp
- The scene in the Japanese restaurant ending with Josh Brolin and Joaquin Phoenix arguing about testing bite marks on a murder victim's neck for gold is truly sublime - "Motto panukeiku!"
007 CONNECTIONS
- Benicio del Toro (Dario in Licence to Kill)
MCU CONNECTIONS
- Benicio del Toro (Taneleer Tivan in Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Avengers: Infinity War)
- Josh Brolin (Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame)
