Inherent Vice
Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson
2015
***
Paul Thomas Anderson isn't a director I've always enjoyed but over the last few years I've grown to love and appreciate his work more and more. His 2012 film The Master is an absolute masterpiece, so Inherent Vice came with very high expectations, which is probably why a feel slightly let down. It's full of great performances from an array of brilliant actors, not one person has a bad day in the office and  in fact Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin and Katherine Waterston have never been better or made acting look so effortless. I was also very excited and not left disappointed with Martin Short's short performance, I really hope this opens a great many more doors for him as I want to see more of him in mainstream cinema. There are also some absolutely brilliant scenes within the film, Josh Brolin's hard-faced super cop eating Joaquin Phoenix's stash of marijuana being one of my very favorite of the last few years. That is essentially what the film is, a collection of some great scenes sandwiched into a very confusing crime mystery. It's not really a murder film as no one is dead and it's not a whodunnit either, as you're never too sure what the crime actually was in the first place. I'm familiar with Thomas Pynchon's work and this adaptation never really feels like one of his stories. I can't help but think there was development issues here as it's not the well constructed film that Anderson is know for. It's never as good as the sum of its parts, enjoyable to a point but over long, over complicated and just a tiny bit confusing. Three stars for performances and visual flare.