Review: Licorice Pizza

I've always had a strange relationship with Paul Thomas Anderson's films.

I always appreciate his film-making as I will agree it is of the highest quality. But that is nearly always the only thing I go for. I don't know why his style of story-telling rarely had me going nuts compared to other people. But there were a few times when it was more than just the craft of his works that I got gripped by.

I really like Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread and I love Magnolia.

So given the buzz his latest work was getting as well as the trailers suggesting something of a feel-good nature, my expectations were fairly high.

The general feelings I got from this were very similar to Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood'. While the story was certainly intriguing me and keeping my interest throughout, it was the setting, surroundings and soundtrack that I was absorbed by. The production design is once again of the highest order, and all the various aspects that enhanced the look of the film made more of an experience than anything else.

With the added use of real historic moments from America's past at that time, it did feel I was truly transported to the early 1970's.

Don't worry, there is a story here to enjoy. It is solidly developed coming of age story with a whole bunch connected sub plots that never make this narrative clear cut. This has been a regular style of Anderson that doesn't always work with me. But I was fine with this one. With some fairly random and unexpected tangents to the plot, it kept my senses fairly alert as I wasn't sure what would happen next.

The cast is pretty strong and is a great mix of new young stars and experienced ones. Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman are wonderful together as the two leads. Their opening exchange sets the tone perfectly and certainly put me at east. Hoffman is the son of Anderson regular, the late Philipp Seymour Hoffman. His confidence and brashness for the character felt very natural and most definitely entertaining. His back and forth with Haim was also authentic and her screen presence was very strong-willed and both of their looks felt perfect for the time.

There was also some nice short-lived supporting moments by Skyler Gisondo, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Benny Safdie and Bradley Cooper who produces a particular scene-stealing performance. We may have only seen Cooper for a few short scenes, but his impact was certainly a memorable one.

I didn't have major gripes with the film. Some of the random subplots I felt didn't do anything to the film. But I think on the whole, it was down to how much I liked it.

I certainly liked it very much. The story is very engaging, those themes of innocence and youth still work, there are a lot of characters to get involved with and the entire environment Anderson and his team creates is pure escapism.

It is certainly up there with some of my favourite films from Anderson and I would happily watch this again. It is also one of his more funnier films and while I wouldn't call this a comedy, it had me laughing fairly regularly.

Rating: 8/10