Review: Inherent Vice

by Trevor Kirkendall

★★★

One word to describe “Inherent Vice” would be outlandish. But to sum up a Paul Thomas Anderson movie in just one word would be doing a disservice to the sheer size and scope of the movie he’s put together. All of his films are larger than life representations of a widespread group of people. (Except maybe for his underrated classic “Punch Drunk Love.”) With “Inherent Vice,” Anderson turns his attention on a 1970s Los Angeles, filled with deception, sex and drugs.

Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) is a perpetually stoned private investigator. One evening, his former lover Shasta Fay (Katherine Waterson) pays him a visit to tell him of a plan to kidnap the man she’s currently seeing, millionaire real estate mogul Mickey Wolfmann (Eric Roberts), and have him committed to a mental institution. The plan is being cooked up by Mickey’s wife Sloane (Serena Scott Thomas) and her lover Riggs Warbling (Andrew Simpson). Shasta asks Doc to help stop it from happening.

Meanwhile, Doc is asked by two more people to help track down others. The first is Tariq Khalil (Michael Kenneth Williams), who wants Doc to find one of Mickey’s bodyguards, whom he says owes him money from when they were in prison. The second is housewife Hope Harlingen (Jena Malone) who is looking for her husband Coy (Owen Wilson). She’s been told he’s dead, but she doesn’t believe it.

All three people are connected. And all three investigations turn into one giant investigation for Doc. Throughout his journey, Doc encounters some of the weirdest people Los Angeles has to offer, including his arch nemesis at the LAPD, Lt. Detective Christian F. Bjornsen (Josh Brolin), also known as Bigfoot, his lawyer friend Sauncho Smilax (Benicio Del Toro), who is more seasoned in maritime law than criminal law, and dentist Rudy Blatnoyd (Martin Short), who may or may not have key information for Doc if only he could keep his nose out of the cocaine.

With its overly dense plot and its diverse cast of characters, “Inherent Vice” has all the makings of a cult a film. And the more people who see it, the more likely it’ll become a cult classic, standing alongside the great stoner films such as “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and “The Big Lebowski.” I tend to think of “Inherent Vice” in the same vein as “Lebowski” especially the main characters, probably because they’re both high as a kite throughout the entire film. Both characters are pulled into a convoluted crime plot against their will and continue to follow the clues as it leads them into more and more absurd situations. Both Doc and The Dude have no idea what’s going on, but they’re both stoned so what does it matter to them?

“Inherent Vice” is director Anderson like we’ve never seen him before. This isn’t the dark and brooding filmmaker we’ve seen recently with “There Will Be Blood” and “The Master.” This is a much more lighthearted affair. It still feels very much like an Anderson film with the brilliant use of music, the long takes and the bright vibrant colors. But it is also long and drawn out, much like Anderson’s other films. I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing. “There Will Be Blood” was nearly three hours and could be considered a masterpiece. It is something that should be known before going into it. It is long and, at times, feels like it.

But Anderson has such a great grasp on the source material. The tone of the film is a bright and vibrant as what I assume would be found in the Thomas Pynchon novel. I’ve not read the novel, but judging from the narration provided by Joanna Newsome, I can imagine what the writing must be like.

He’s done this before, matching the ominous and gloomy tone of an Upton Sinclair novel in “There Will Be Blood.” Anderson has such a great eye for stories that will work well within his style of filmmaking. This is such a great marriage of director and source material.

Phoenix continues to impress as he always does. Since his faux retirement from acting to embark on rap career (which was documented in “I’m Still Here” and later revealed to be a complete farce), Phoenix has turned in one award worthy role after another. As Doc in “Inherent Vice,” Phoenix continues his streak. He plays the stoner role so convincingly, but he’s at his best when the camera turns to him for reaction shots. The movie is so offbeat and weird that even Doc can’t believe what’s happening half the time. Phoenix perfectly sums up the audience’s reaction with his own reaction every time.

Elsewhere, the rest of the film is full of an ensemble of great actors and actresses. Many play small roles and will only appear in about two or three scenes each. The best member of the ensemble is Brolin as Doc’s nemesis in the LAPD. The character is written to be a comical antagonist to Doc, but not to the story. Brolin is larger than life in every scene he’s in. He outshines even Phoenix in the many scenes the two actors share. Brolin and his character were my favorite parts of this film.

“Inherent Vice” won’t be for everyone and I don’t think there will be too many people who will say it’s mediocre. Those who can fully grasp the ludicrous plot, Anderson’s unique style and the long running time will probably be thoroughly entertained throughout the entire film. They will also embrace the future cult status this film will no doubt receive. Then there will be those who are bored for the entire time and hate every single minute. As for me, I did enjoy it immensely. Yet this is the first time I have watched a film by Anderson and felt that it was too long. By comparison, it is shorter for him but it feels like the plot could have been paced a little better. Still, it is well done and will be well received but cult fans and stoners alike for years to come.

Review: The Internship

by Trevor Kirkendall
★½

Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson reunite in “The Internship,” Google’s big screen commercial. As if a company of that size and scope needs any extra marketing. Summer films typically get a bad rep for their blatant and sometimes obnoxious overuse of product placement. Product placement is pretty much unavoidable in almost any film, but “The Internship” seems to be one gigantic product placement. I can’t see any other reason for its existence other than to serve as a Google recruitment ad.

Billy McMahon (Vaughn) and Nick Campbell (Wilson) are top-notch salesmen, but suddenly they’re both out of work. The owner of the company they work for (John Goodman) has decided to shut down and retire. This leaves Billy and Nick unemployed and wondering what to do next since they don’t seem to have any type of useful skills. But Billy gets an idea to sign them both up for an internship at Google.

After a questionable interview via a Google Hangout, and some reservations from the director of the Google internship program, Mr. Chetty (Aasif Mandvi), Billy and Nick are invited to participate. The internship program is designed to split all the interns up into teams to compete in a series of challenges. The winning team wins full time jobs at Google.

Naturally, Billy and Nick stand out amongst the room full of young twentysomethings, particularly in the eyes of the clearly qualified and highly educated Graham (Max Minghella). The guys have no choice but to be paired up with the intern rejects, Stuart (Dylan O’Brien), Neha (Tiya Sircar) and Yo-Yo Santos (Tobit Raphael). Heading up their team is Lyle (Josh Brener), one of the Google intern captains.

You can probably guess what happens next. Graham’s team is clearly the team to beat. Billy and Nick’s team comes in last place at everything in the beginning, but as the old guys pass along their wisdom of the world to the younger folks, they start to pull it together.

It doesn’t get much more generic that that, almost closely related to another Vince Vaughn movie, “Old School.” For that matter, Vaughn very well could have just been playing his “Old School” roll of Bernie Campbell once again. But that’s something we’ve come to expect from Vaughn. We all know the one and only roll he seems capable of playing – boisterous and fast-talking.

Mix that with Wilson’s slow, dry and nasally cadences at the exact same time, and you’re left with two very different speaking styles that’s almost as tolerable as nails on a chalkboard. But once again, this isn’t anything new. We saw it already in “Wedding Crashers.” It wasn’t all that tolerable then, but it’s really nothing new.

Thankfully, the moments when these two are both trying to talk over one another are kept to a minimum. There are several instances when Vaughn and Wilson are on camera without the other one. Wilson’s character even has a subplot all to his own, a little romantic interest with a Google employee (Rose Byrne).

Vaughn wrote the story and the screenplay along with Jared Stern, and their material is nothing new. It constantly swings from being mildly humorous to practically unbearable and back again. The humor is situational in nature and not all that smart. There are several moments where the humor is left up the film editor and the music supervisors – meaning everyone runs in slow motion with a goofy expression on their face while some ironic song plays on top. Play it at a normal speed without the music and you just got a group of guys running around. There’s nothing funny about that.

You don’t have to look too close. “The Internship” is a two-hour product placement for Google. Every scene features something about the company and the products they offer. It serves no other purpose. They’re also showing off Google’s work environment. It there’s as much fun and games at that company as this movie demonstrates, its no wonder my Gmail fails on me so often – no one there ever works.

A theme about never giving up in the face of adversary is hammered home on several different occasions. That seems to be a common theme at many high school and college commencement addresses.

Given the current state of the job market for college graduates in recent years, it’s not a surprise that’s the point their trying to make, particularly in a film that’s centered around a large group of people competing for small number of jobs. Don’t give up, grads. There is hope for you. Go work at Google where you can take a nap in the middle of the day and play Quidditch in your free time.