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| Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix |
Overlong but intriguing, "Inherent Vice" is inherently and colorfully entertaining
From the director of such unconventional but well-acted fare such as "The Master" and "There Will Be Blood" comes the unconventional but colorfully entertaining and overlong, flawed crime tale "Inherent Vice." Private eye Doc Sportello's (Joaquin Phoenix) investigates the disappearance of the billionaire boyfriend of ex-flame Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston), taking into a dark, psychedelic tale of drugs and mayhem that even he finds hard to fathom. Directed, produced and written by acclaimed director Paul Thomas Anderson and based on Thomas Pynchon's seedy 2009 novel of the same name, "Inherent Vice" is a dark, well-acted dramedy about the underbelly of drugs, crime and free love circa 1970's California. It's not one of Anderson's stronger efforts, but it's certainly watchable, even if it may stretch the limits of your theater seat. "Vice" plays to some of Anderson's strengths: an eclectic, talented cast (also including Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Benicio Del Toro and a coke-snorting Martin Short, among many others) who perform well against the dark and intriguing but rambling narrative. Even more so, it plays to Anderson's weaknesses as a filmmaker: it's self-indulgent, too long and too odd, making for his least accessible film to date. The slow second act doesn't help it, either, even if it's well-grounded by another unusual Phoenix turn (he makes for a great stoner), though he's upstaged by two others in the large cast: Josh Brolin, who clearly has fun as the tough-talking detective who makes life difficult for Doc, and in a small role, Waterston, as his lovely but troubled hippy ex-girlfriend who needs his help. Waterston, of "Boardwalk Empire" fame and actor Sam Waterston's daughter, is smart and beautiful in a breakout role, and the camera clearly loves her (not to mention you get to see every inch her in one mildly shocking sex scene), reminding of an early Kate Hudson. The hip and jazzy score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood adds some nice texture to the movie and its dark photography from Robert Elswit, who worked with Anderson on "Blood," is perfectly suited to its tone. "Inherent Vice" is essentially a darker, more drug-fueled attempt at a "Big Lebowski" type story, and while it's hit-or-miss (you'll look at your watch more than once), it's still worth seeing, especially for Anderson fans, though this type of thing may worked better as an HBO or Netflix series. "Inherent Vice" isn't on the same level of greatness as "There Will Be Blood" or "The Master" and is a film whose parts are better than its sum total.
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