Fresh
Anderson moves further from conventional storytelling with each new film, and closer to something more intuitive, more damning, more true. He hasn't made it there yet. God help us when he does.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Inherent Vice
Love usually leads to trouble.
2014 · 2h 29m · R
Comedy, Drama, Mystery
Directed by
Paul Thomas Anderson
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Inherent Vice
Overview
In Los Angeles at the turn of the 1970s, drug-fueled detective Larry "Doc" Sportello investigates the disappearance of an ex-girlfriend.
Director and cast
- Paul Thomas Anderson Director
- Joaquin Phoenix as Larry "Doc" Sportello
- Josh Brolin as Lt. Det. Christian F. "Bigfoot" Bjornsen
- Owen Wilson as Coy Harlingen
- Katherine Waterston as Shasta Fay Hepworth
- Reese Witherspoon as Deputy D.A. Penny Kimball
- Benicio del Toro as Sauncho Smilax, Esq.
- Jena Malone as Hope Harlingen
- Joanna Newsom as Sortilège, who is also the narrator
- Jordan Christian Hearn as Denis
- Hong Chau as Jade
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
73%
Tomatometer
Rotten
Some storylines conclude, some collide, others dissipate. But the film's main crime is this: It's boring.
Tom Long, Detroit News
Fresh
Joaquin Phoenix is perfectly cast as the perpetually befuddled Doc, a private detective of sorts who immerses himself in pot in the Los Angeles of 1970.
Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com
Rotten
Although it's not as hermetic and impenetrable as The Master, Inherent Vice still comes off as a giant inside joke to anyone who hasn't read Pynchon's novel.
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
Rotten
Inherent Vice is a sun-glared, neon-limned muddle of noir plotline and potheaded jokery that not only doesn't make sense, but actually seems to try hard not to.
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
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