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Inherent Vice

Comedy. Mystery Los Angeles in 1970. It's been a while since private detective Doc Sportello has seen his ex- girlfriend Shasta. Suddenly she shows up with a story about a plot to kidnap a billionaire land developer whom she just happens to be in love with. It's the tail end of the psychedelic sixties in L.A., and Doc knows that "love" is another of those words going around at the moment, like "trip" or "groovy," except that this one usually leads to trouble. [+]
Author Review
United KingdomUnited Kingdom
Telegraph
Telegraph
"Paul Thomas Anderson's hilarous Thomas Pynchon adaptation is like no noir you've ever seen (...) as antic as Boogie Nights and Punch-Drunk Love (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of five)"   POS
United StatesUnited States
The New York Times
The New York Times
"Mr. Anderson has condensed the book with surgical precision, ditching certain subplots, characters and locales while retaining the novel's sociopolitical tug (...) and chokingly funny details."  POS
United StatesUnited States
Variety
Variety
"A groovy, richly funny stoner romp that has less in common with “The Big Lebowski” than with the strain of fatalistic, ’70s-era California noirs (...) weird, discursive and totally delightful"  POS
United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The Guardian
The Guardian
"If (...) 'The Master' spotlighted the search for meaning in prosperous 1950s America, then 'Inherent Vice' shows us where all those hopes and dreams eventually washed up (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of five)"  POS
United StatesUnited States
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
"'Inherent Vice' (...) 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. (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of four)"  POS
United StatesUnited States
The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
"The first Thomas Pynchon novel to hit the big screen gets uneven handling by Paul Thomas Anderson (...) a pale and narrow physical recreation of such a vibrant place and time"  NEU
United StatesUnited States
The New Yorker
The New Yorker
"Paul Thomas Anderson has done Thomas Pynchon proud, but (...) you want him to leave the writer’s orbit and follow his own strange star  NEU
United StatesUnited States
Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
"For some of us, Anderson's LA lamentation is a siren song, and there's no more ardent and poetic chronicler of California mythology. (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of four)"  POS
United StatesUnited States
IndieWire
IndieWire
"'Inherent Vice' never reaches comedically vibrant heights, but the movie has plenty of charm (...) the imperfections only deepen its appeal"  POS
United StatesUnited States
New York Post
New York Post
"Makes Howard Hawks' legendarily confusing 'The Big Sleep' look like a model of narrative coherence"  NEG
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