Inherent Vice

You don't have to be stoned to watch Paul Thomas Anderson's laconic adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's pulpy crime mystery novel, but it would surely help to ease the tedium. Set in (fictional) Gordita Beach in the 1970s, the story revolves around Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix), a private eye working out of what looks like a medical office. Whisperingly narrated by a flower child observer (singer/songwriter Joanna Newsom), Inherent Vice tells a tale about Doc's ex-girlfriend (Katherine Waterston), who's involved with a rich real-estate developer (Eric Roberts), both of whom mysteriously disappear. Along with the consumption of lots of weed, the film also features the strange Golden Fang (an Indo-Chinese drug cartel), a coke-snorting dentist (Martin Short), and a presumed dead tenor sax player (Owen Wilson) who is very much alive (but not who you think he is). Dazed Doc's nemesis is a square-jawed, buzz-cut LAPD cop (Josh Brolin) who moonlights as a TV actor and celebrity pitchman. In addition, there are oddball hustlers, dopers, rockers, cultists, and white supremacists, played by Benicio Del Toro, Reese Witherspoon, Jena Malone, and Maya Rudolph, among others. Unfortunately, Anderson never ties together the many bizarre, inconsequential fragments that make up this film (Oscar-nominated for its screenplay!), which might have been more accurately titled Incoherent Vice. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include an “Everything in this Dream” additional scene (6 min.), and three brief promos. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a small extras package for a meandering film.] (S. Granger)