Licorice Pizza

What an experience watching "Licorice Pizza" was. In terms of aesthetic qualities like the ability to put the viewer in a setting (in this case 1970s Los Angeles), a wonderful soundtrack, some rollicking fun sequences, and phenomenal cinematography. Truly a technical masterpiece in nearly every sense.

Sadly, "Licorice Pizza" is also not all that great of a film for one very specific reason: it completely and utterly lacks a plot or overall meaning to all the technical expertise.

For a very basic overview, the movie tells the story of Gary (Cooper Hoffman), a high school student with a taste for showbiz, and Alana (Alana Haim), a 25-year-old Jewish "Valley Girl" stuck in neutral but always looking for the next adventure. As the two circle around each other trying to determine their romantic wants/needs, they stumble in and out of any number of period-specific historical events/schemes, such as a fuel shortage, waterbed craze, and pinball machine ban being lifted, to name a few.

Like I said, "Licorice Pizza" is truly remarkable at setting a scene. I felt like I was back in time and nothing ever broke that illusion. I was also extremely impressed by the acting performances from newcomers (at least to the big screen) Hoffman & Haim. They are more than capable of carrying the entire film, which is exactly what they are asked to do here.

But when the credits rolled--and even some time after--I'm struggling to figure out any discernible value or lasting concepts to take from the experience. In a certain sense, the viewing experience (plot-wise) felt like a cipher to which I wasn't given the key. A whole bunch of mini-escapades transpire--all at least somewhat entertaining--and the movie just ends. No more, no less.

I very much liken "Licorice Pizza" to 2019's "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood", though I have to say I liked that Tarentino film a bit more because even it hewed to the plot--not just the spirit--of the current events it was depicting. Here, director Paul Thomas Anderson creates a movie that is almost entirely aesthetic and eschews plot/meaning entirely. As such, it is difficult for me to grade it as "good" or "bad", hence the right-down-the-middle five stars.

The films of Director Paul Thomas Anderson is a bit of an "acquired taste", moviegoers generally fall into one of 2 camps. (1) those that LOVE what he does (and thinks he is one of the greatest Directors of All Time) and (2) those that don't.

I thought I fell into the 2nd camp, but upon reviewing his portfolio of work for this review (HARD EIGHT, BOOGIE NIGHTS, PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE and THERE WILL BE BLOOD), I realized that I pretty much liked whatever he had done, but with his last few films (THE MASTER, INHERENT VICE, THE PHANTOM THREAD) I am finding that "PTA" (as his fans call him) is becoming just a little too "artsy" and pretentious for my tastes. He has fallen too in love with his material - and artistic style - to objectively look at a film and realize that it needs to move along at a brisker pace.

Such is the case with his latest film, LICORICE PIZZA.

A memory of his youth, LICORICE PIZZA follows the relationship of a pair of mismatched young adults as they work their way through the early 1970's in search of themselves and love.

This film is a series of scenes stitched together to tell a story and the problem with it is that it made this film seem disjointed. The central "get together already" love story of the main 2 characters is supposed to be the through-line of the film, but when this through-line breaks (as it often does here) it is detrimental to the flow of the story.

Based, loosely, on the real-life exploits of PTA's friend, Producer Gary Goetzman, LICORICE PIZZA stars Cooper Hoffman (son of Phillip Seymour Hoffman) as Gary Valentine and Alana Haim (of the Sister Act Musical Group HAIM) as Alana as they have an on-again/off-again friendship that SHOULD BE a romance, but isn't (kind of like WHEN HARRY MET SALLY). They circumnavigate circa 1973 Los Angeles running into fictionalized portrayals of famous people like Producer Jon Peters (Bradley Cooper) and Film Actor Jack Holden (Sean Penn) an amalgamation of William Holden and Steve McQueen.

The central performances of Hoffman and Haim are competent enough, but never rises to anything more than that, which pulls this film down for one or the other of them is in every scene . The various actors doing extended cameos (like Cooper and Penn) seem to be having fun chewing up the scenery, but they are acting in a completely different style of film than Hoffman and Haim are and our 2 leads don't stand a chance of standing out compared to these over-the-top performances.

Blame for all of this needs to be laid on Anderson (Oscar Nominated for his Direction in this film). He tried to give us a "slice of life" nostalgia piece like AMERICAN GRAFFITI or ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, but he just doesn't pull it off.

An Oscar Nominee for Best Picture, LICORICE PIZZA seems to be riding the wave of nostalgia both for the times depicted - and the artist who put this film on the screen - but it just isn't that good of a film.

Letter Grade B- (for Cooper's and Penn's scenes in this)

6 stars (out of 10) and you can take this to the Bank(ofMarquis)

I was curious about the film's title. As it turns out, the film is named after a record store chain called 'Licorice Pizza'. Also, according to director Paul Thomas Anderson, both licorice and pizza resonate with childhood memories, and he liked the sound of that for a coming of age movie.

I have several issues with this highly acclaimed film. Firstly, the characters. The most obvious is having a romance between a 15-year old boy and a 25-year old woman. Not that age gap is an issue in relationships, but because the boy is a minor and the film therefore had a bit of a sour taste in the mouth being a 'love story'.

Also, none of the characters were likable. No, not even the leads Alana and Gary. I mean, was this supposed to be a romantic film? Gary wanted to be with Alana from the moment he saw her, and when he got the chance he suddenly didn't want her anymore. Then, when she didn't want him anymore, he wanted her again. Then not, then he did, then she didn't, then she did... oh whatever!! As for Alana, she threw herself at every man she met! Wow, now there's romance for you (pffff!!!!!)

With so many characters coming and going, I completely lost track of them and the film simply felt like a bunch of short stories gelled together to make one movie. As for Gary, I didn't find this character believable. This guy had so many mood changes that it was hard to summarize him. He is an actor and entrepreneur, and businessman at the age of fifteen...

I also found the film slow moving with not all that much interesting happening - or, at least, nothing that interested me. This is not my kind of movie, and found it a bit boring since the 'love story' was anything but romantic. So, where did I want the movie to go? Honestly, I didn't care because I didn't root for any of the characters. I certainly didn't care for Gary and Alana being a couple, that's for sure!

On a positive note, the performances are very good.

I have mixed feelings about this movie. The central relationship between Alana and Gary is great, and both actors are doing a great job. The scene where they're on the telephone and not saying anything is my favorite scene in the movie. Alana is an interesting character, seeing how impressionable she is, trying out different personas throughout the film. What I didn't like as much was the interludes with the celebrity cameos. I didn't like the part with Sean Penn and Tom Waits at all, and the Bradley Cooper part wasn't my favorite either. It does feel a little too long. Overall, I'd say it's worth seeing but not worth the Best Picture nominee-level acclaim.

Oh Paul Thomas Anderson. Ever since the master your films have been on a slight down tick. The performances are great from all the new comers and the vets. The camera work and cinematography are stellar. Also the score is very good.

But as for the story, this is very poor. It's aimless in its vision and just seems to be random scenes written for the 2 leads to be a part of. The situations they get into are all over the place and there no real feel for how much time is passing from scene to scene. It feels as if the film is a sitcom from the 90s stretched out into a 2 hour film.

I love Paul Thomas Anderson but this is his second worst for me after Inherent Vice. Which isn't to say it's bad. I had a good time watching the film it's just not very memorable and not PTA at his best. I'll be waiting for the next film though without a doubt..