Paul Thomas Anderson returns with his first comedy since Punch Drunk Love. The filmmaker behind There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights has adapted Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice and it looks great. The trailer comes off like The Big Lebowski if it was made in the ’70s.
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.
With a cast of characters that includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, LAPD Detectives, a tenor sax player working undercover, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists… Part surf noir, part psychedelic romp—all Thomas Pynchon.
Inherent Vice premieres this Saturday at the New York Film Festival but tickets are going for $500 on Craigslist, so maybe just wait until its December release date. Meanwhile, check out the trailer above and keep your eyes open for porn star Belladonna at 0:33.
