Inherent Vice

Inherent Vice is a self-indulgent, under-the-top fiasco that leaves the watcher scratching her head. The confusion comes not from a complicated LA crime drama plot, but from the more fundamental confusion of what the movie is trying to accomplish. Inherent Vice tries (and at times succeeds) to be a jovial brain bender akin to The Big Lebowski, but falls short with a shallow plot and intolerably slow pacing. I found the art direction to be intriguing at times, but that couldn't prevent some of the weaker aspects of directionless acting, scatterbrained storytelling and nebulous conflict resolution from ruining the movie.

Almost impossible to follow, characters come and go with no introduction, development or explanation, the editing is choppy and schizophrenic, the acting comes across like everyone is huffing ether... I went into this movie wanting and expecting to love it, but it ended up being one of the worst things I've ever wasted my time watching.

I admire Anderson's films but to me this is his weakest effort. It has its moments here & there but there's some bad problems with this film. The story is so fractured & goes in so many different directions it becomes hard to follow. The film is much too long & drawn out & feels like it while you're watching it. But Phoenix is good in the role & has fun with it. The movie is filmed beautifully & feels & looks like the 70s. And has an awesome soundtrack. So I'm giving it 3 stars for the later efforts.