Inherent Vice (FILM REVIEW)
Inherent Vice
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Joaquin Phoenix Plays Pothead Private Eye in Hippie-Era Whodunit
Dateline: Los
Angeles, 1970, which is where we find Private Eye Larry “Doc”
Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) living in a beach house with a view in a fictional,
seacoast enclave called Gordita
Beach. He’s totally
wasted, but that doesn’t stop Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine
Waterston) from approaching her ex-boyfriend for help with a personal problem.
Seems that the
fetching femme
fatale is currently the mistress of real estate magnate Mickey
Wolfmann (Eric Roberts), and she has reason to believe that the philandering
billionaire is about
to be involuntarily committed to a mental institution by his vindictive wife,
Sloane (Serena Scott Thomas), and her lover, Riggs Warbling (Andrew Simpson).
Against his better
judgment, Doc takes the case, and soon finds himself swept into a seamy
underworld filled with colorful characters ranging from a recently-paroled
black radical (Michael Kenneth Williams) to an avowed white supremacist
(Christopher Allen Nelson) to the proverbial prostitute with the heart of gold
(Hong Chau). After being conked on the head, Doc comes around in a police
station where he learns that he’s the prime suspect not only in the
disappearance of both Mickey and Shasta Fay, but in a murder to boot.
So unfolds Inherent Vice, a surreal whodunit far
more concerned with recreating the feel of the post-Sixties’ daze of
free-flowing drugs than with crafting a compelling crime thriller. Unfortunately,
the absence of a credible plotline means the premise soon dissolves into a
rudderless, meandering mess, reducing the viewing experience to enjoying the retro
décor, fashions and slang of the period.
The picture was
directed by five-time Oscar-nominee Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood,
Boogie Nights and Magnolia), who also adapted the script from the Thomas
Pynchon best-seller of the same name.
The film does feature
a few standout performances, most notably, Joaquin Phoenix
in the starring role, and Josh Brolin as a hard-nosed LAPD officer. Otherwise
the production makes precious little use of the services of its cluttered,
A-list cast which includes Academy Award-winners Reese Witherspoon (for Walk
the Line) and Benicio del Toro (for Traffic), and Oscar-nominees Eric Roberts
(for Runaway Train) and Owen Wilson (for The Royal Tenenbaums).
An unstructured, atmospheric affair ostensibly designed
to appeal to folks nostalgic for the hedonistic hippie era.
Good (2 stars)
Rated R for
profanity, violence, sexuality and graphic nudity
In English and Japanese with subtitles
Running time: 148 minutes
Distributor: Warner
Brothers
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