Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson (Screenplay) Thomas Pynchon (Novel)
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio Del Toro, Jena Malone, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short
Plot: In 1970, drug-fueled Los Angeles private investigator Larry “Doc” Sportello investigates the disappearance of a former girlfriend.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: 2 and Half Hours too Long
Story: Inherent Vice starts as private investigator Larry ‘Doc’ Spotello (Phoenix) who gets a visit from his ex-girlfriend Shasta (Waterston) needing his help dealing with the latest job she is on with her boyfriend Michael Z Wolfmann (Roberts). When he goes missing Lt. Det. Christian F ‘Bigfoot’ Bjornsen (Brolin) leads the case which also sees Shasta go missing too.
As the case continues to unfold Doc finds himself meet a string of different characters who all have different pieces of information that will help solve the case.
Thoughts on Inherent Vice
Characters/Performance – Doc is our main character and he is a hippie private investigator that has connections all over town and finds himself in the middle of a big cast.
Performance wise, Phoenix is good but to be fair due to the slightly boring story the actors don’t have much to work with.
Story – The story here is a crime story as we watch how a PI must solve a missing persons case and what the bigger picture to everything is, it would be fair to say this is very boring and not interesting in anyway.
Comedy/Crime – There is no comedy in this film, I am pretty confident in saying that, the crime story is fine but not very interesting either.
Settings – The settings look fine for the time period in question but otherwise nothing comes off truly memorable.
Final Thoughts – This was a boring story with an all-star cast that don’t get the chance to show their abilities.
Overall: Sometimes you just need to miss a film and this is one of them.
Rating
