“Inherent Vice” is the seventh feature from Paul Thomas Anderson and the first ever film adaption of a Thomas Pynchon novel, featuring one of the greatest ensemble casts ever put to screen: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Katherine Waterston, Martin Short, and more.
“‘Inherent Vice’ makes me smile every time I think about it – and I first saw it more than a month ago….be grateful such movies can still be made.”
– Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News
“Inherent Vice, brilliantly scored by Jonny Greenwood, is an Anderson head trip, impure jazz with a reverb that can leave you dazed, confused and even annoyed. But at no time do you doubt that you are in the hands of a master.”
– Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
“Trying to pare back Pynchon without killing the joke was the challenge. Anderson has done a remarkable job of replicating the crazy kaleidoscope of crime, dope and raunch the novelist conjured.”
– Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times
“Marvelously photographed by Robert Elswit in a muzzy, sunlit L.A. haze, with a customarily lovely Jonny Greenwood soundtrack, “Inherent Vice” is crowded with delights”
– Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com
“The cast members are working at the top of their games, particularly the fully committed Joaquin Phoenix as an ultra-convincing doper, sporting some impressive mutton chops.”
– Claudia Puig, USA Today
“This “sunshine noir” bakes your brain, in a good way.”
– Peter Howell, Toronto Star
When private eye Doc Sportello’s ex-old lady suddenly out of nowhere shows up with a story about her current billionaire land developer boyfriend whom she just happens to be in love with, and a plot by his wife and her boyfriend to kidnap that billionaire and throw him in a looney bin…well, easy for her to say. It’s the tail end of the psychedelic `60s and paranoia is running the day and Doc knows that “love” is another of those words going around at the moment, like “trip” or “groovy,” that’s being way too overused – except this one usually leads to trouble.
With a cast of characters that includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, LAPD Detectives, a tenor sax player working undercover, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists… Part surf noir, part psychedelic romp – all Thomas Pynchon. (C) Warner Bros
