Licorice Pizza
Paul Thomas Anderson does it once again; a funny, heartfelt and emotional coming of age story that succeeds on every level.
Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) is a pull yourself up by your bootstraps, hustling type. Child actor, PR man, and all round charmer, the teenager finds himself shunted on to a new path when he comes across Alana Kane (Alana Haim); a twenty-something dream girl who used to babysit him, and who he now decides is the love of his life. After a single awkward date, they become friends and business partners. Together, they get into the waterbed business, and sales boom. Alana rescues Gary from prison; Gary rescues Alana from the clutches of aged Hollywood star Jack Holden (Sean Penn) and danger-inducing director Rex Blau (Tom Waits). They save each other from the crazed husband of Barbara Streisand, Jon Peters (Bradley Cooper) amidst a gasoline shortage. But despite their successes and failures, their on again off again friendship, and the ever flowing arc of time itself, the question remains; are they destined to just be friends, or something more?
It is difficult to describe the plot of Licorice Pizza, given the ambling, easy going and reality-like flow of time that the movie takes. There really isn’t too much of a structure in the three-act traditional sense, but rather this feels more like the tide coming in; waves crashing back and forth against the surface, in no real order other than the inexorable march up the beach over time.
The film is visually gorgeous. PTA gives this a bit of a hazy old-timey feel, which is wonderfully warming, and you can really feel this movie in your soul because of it. Whether it is the heat washing over you as they run through the streets of LA during the gasoline shortage, the strobing neons of Valentine’s pinball parlor, or the easy flow of the waterbeds Gary and Alana lay on, it all feels incredibly visceral from the comfort of your cinema seat.
Then there’s the performances. Anchoring a film with two newcomers, Hoffman and Haim, is undoubtedly a risk, but Anderson knows exactly what he is doing. These two shine so brightly as to dwarf everyone around them, even the occasional celebrity cameo (bar one). Their chemistry is palpable, and not just in the romantic sense; they are believable friends, understandable foes and their arguments are realistic in the extreme. They give the film not just a realism, but a magical, ‘everything will be okay in the end’ sort of realism, that makes the film an easy to watch joy.
The one other role that is bright enough to make a mark amongst the quality of the two leads is that of Jon Peters, played by Bradley Cooper. Cooper gives an insane, hilarious and thoroughly enjoyable performance as the manic Peters, and he crops up just enough to have you enjoying every second of screentime, without overstaying his welcome.
In the end, Licorice Pizza is the sort of joyous, romantic, engaging adult filmmaking that should be more routine, but is being put out of business by the big blockbusters of our age. Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the most fantastic directors working today, and given his casting is evidently not afraid to take risks. We’re happy to report that in this case, the risk paid off; this is one of the best movies of 2021, and will have your heart full and your smile wide as you leave the cinema.
