Paul Thomas Anderson's 'Inherent Vice' review, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Katherine Waterston and Josh Brolin

Paul Thomas Anderson, a master of diverging cinematic norms and juggling an excess of characters, is perhaps the perfect filmmaker to adapt an author like Thomas Pynchon. Anderson’s focus to quality, but disregard for formal structure, mirrors Pynchon’s ludicrous sprawls of texts, and they do wonders together with Inherent Vice.

In the middle of the night, private investigator Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) is welcomed by the unexpected visit of Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston). A former lover of his, Shasta comes needing Doc’s assistance investigating the disappearance of her boyfriend. In the midst of helping his ex-girlfriend comes Hope Harlingen (Jena Malone) asking Doc to find her lost husband Coy (Owen Wilson), while Coy requests Doc find his wife. Meanwhile, Jade (Hong Chau) unintentionally allures him to the perplexing Golden Fang. While Doc bounces around with these affairs, Lt. Det. Christian F. “Bigfoot” Bjornsen (Josh Brolin) continues to aid and mess with Sportello in equal measures.

Pynchon’s novels have yet to make their way to the big screen before this, and for good reason. While constantly renowned, the author’s off-the-cuff, accept-the-madness form of storytelling is meant to allow one to reflect the protagonist’s interpretation of the mystery, rather than what’s actually at stake. Inherent Vice will seem like a furious mess if one doesn’t see what’s at play here. The mystery that leads Doc to different characters in various set pieces across his sunny ‘70s L.A. backdrop doesn’t have a clear consensus, and isn’t supposed to. For much like Pynchon’s best works, there’s no clear answers or resounding conclusions to anything here.

To piece together the loose-connections and fractured parallels between characters and events doesn’t concern either Pynchon or Anderson, and will only disservice those foolish enough to circle themselves into these odds-and-ends. For all the audience knows, these are all delusions of a hippie hopped-up on any-and-all-drugs he can puff, snort and otherwise consume. And in that hazed fog of smoke, dust, sand and paranoia comes the wondrous allure of Anderson’s film, creating the amusingly bizarre plight of Doc amidst his surreal and fascinating surroundings.

Phoenix, through a bug-eyed glance and furious eyebrow, brings so much life to Doc, and is surprisingly great at physical comedy. His mumbling, dazed investigator is one so atypical in this kind of film noir nod, with comparisons to The Dude from The Big Lebowski being fitting and also disserving. Also as weirdly compelling are Brolin as Doc’s one straight-man and Benicio Del Toro as Sauncho Smilax, whose something of a misguiding compass for Phoenix’s character. Even the usually unbearable Martin Short does some great supporting work here. But the film’s absolute standout is Waterston, who balances the film’s hyper aware humor with her character’s own insecurities and inhibitions smoothly and poetically.

That Anderson could make something this cathartically strange, with this high profile cast and under a budget this reasonable, is a beauty and blessing in-and-of-itself. His movie, the kind that’s constantly funny if not completely uproarious, is often maddening, sometimes to the point of annoyance but typically to great comedic results. But, as seen by the prolonged shots of one-on-one interactions, this is just as much about the characters as Anderson’s other films. This mirage of indecisive answers and broken connections breaks down the conventions of the story to make the personalities so engaging and the performances so telling.

In many ways, Inherent Vice is Anderson’s most experimental picture to date. It’s intentionally outside the realities of his past works, although touches of Punch-Drunk Love and The Master are evident. As he grows older, the filmmakers’ tastes unusually have grown more perverse and loose-winded, but there’s still a stinging, deceptive stream of genius behind all the sex jokes and reefer madness to continuously mesmerize.

In due time, Inherent Vice likely will become something of a cult classic. It’s not going to be for everyone, but those who can dig what Anderson is doing here will find this deranged descent to the unknown be absolutely groovy. To lay back enjoying its parade of oddities and inconsistencies is truly to be in tune with its dissertation, and it’s hard to believe one who does this won’t leave with a big goofy grin on their face.

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