When private eye Doc Sportello’s ex-old lady suddenly out of nowhere shows up with a story about her current billionaire land developer boyfriend whom she just happens to be in love with, and a plot by his wife and her boyfriend to kidnap that billionaire and throw him in a loony bin…well, easy for her to say. It’s the tail end of the psychedelic `60s and paranoia is running the day and Doc knows that “love” is another of those words going around at the moment, like “trip” or “groovy,” that’s being way too overused—except this one usually leads to trouble.
I’m scared to voice my opinion on this one, because I’m not as immediately ga-ga over the trailer for the new Paul Thomas Anderson film Inherent Vice the way everybody else seems to be. *braces for shower of rotten tomatoes* It’s not that I think this will be a bad movie – far from it, this looks terrific. It’s got a sort of Big Lebowski in the 60’s vibe going on, and the cast alone is reason to get excited for it. But some of the comedy beats in this trailer are just…well, kinda lame. Joaquin Phoenix screaming at the photo? I think the last time that was funny was during the height of Vaudeville. But apart from a couple of stumbles, this still looks to be one of the best movies of 2014 (even though it’s officially being released in 2015), so please don’t hit me with anymore produce. I swear, I think this looks good. Maybe the comedy will be better in the final cut. But I can’t help but think that maybe someone with better comedic chops than Phoenix would have been preferable in the lead role.
Inherent Vice comes out January 9, 2015.