It’s always good to see Joaquin Phoenix, but this time he’s joined by an equally impressive cast featuring Michael Kenneth Williams, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, and Martin Short. Plus, he reunites with his 2005 Walk the Line costar Reese Witherspoon. They had really good chemistry in that movie, so I’m hoping we’ll see a lot of Phoenix interacting with her in Inherent Vice. I’m not familiar with most of Paul Thomas Anderson’s work but I do know I loved Boogie Nights, and The Master and Cigarettes and Coffee are on my must-see list of movies. Inherent Vice looks just as impressive as his other films, however, and barring anything getting in the way, I’ll be there for this dark comedy.
In the new trailer, Joaquin Phoenix gets knocked around, shot at, and screams his lungs out, and that’s just the beginning. Josh Brolin orders pancakes in Japanese, and Eric Roberts gives life in the few scenes he’s in as the skeevy husband and rube in the film. Just watch it, it’s pretty funny.
SYNOPSIS
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson
Based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon
Producers: Joanne Sellar, Daniel Lupi, Paul Thomas Anderson
Executive Producers: Scott Rudin, Adam Somner
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio Del Toro, Martin Short, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom
“Inherent Vice,” is the seventh feature from Paul Thomas Anderson and the first ever film adaption of a Thomas Pynchon novel.
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.
The film stars Oscar nominees Joaquin Phoenix (“The Master,” “Walk the Line”), Josh Brolin (“True Grit,” “No Country For Old Men”) and Owen Wilson (“The Royal Tennenbaums,” “Midnight in Paris”); Katherine Waterston (“Michael Clayton,” “Boardwalk Empire”); Oscar winners Reese Witherspoon (“Walk the Line”) and Benicio Del Toro (“Traffic”); Martin Short (“Frankenweenie”); Jena Malone (“The Hunger Games” series); and musician Joanna Newsom.
Oscar nominee Paul Thomas Anderson (“There Will Be Blood,” “The Master”) directed “Inherent Vice” from a screenplay he wrote based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon. Anderson also produced the film, together with Oscar-nominated producers JoAnne Sellar and Daniel Lupi (“There Will Be Blood”). Scott Rudin and Adam Somner served as executive producers.