People familiar with world renowned film critic Gene Siskel will probably always remember his test of "Is this film as interesting as a documentary of the same actors having lunch?". This test is particularly worth mentioning in a review of Paul Thomas Anderson's comedy (?) Inherent Vice, a deadly dull and thoroughly unpleasant film that uses the idea of confusing the audience to no end as an excuse for bad screenwriting. Sure, it's based on a book by infamous/praised author Thomas Pynchon but Anderson's adaptation does it no favors by being way too faithful to the original material. If it's not meant to be turned into a film, it shouldn't even be attempted--simple as that. It's also weird to know that this is supposed to be a stoner comedy a la The Big Lebowski (The Coen Brothers could easily win in a court of law against Anderson over plagiarism for the style he uses here) but feels like a chore to sit through. Stoner comedies can be many things---painful to sit through should not be one of them.
The film follows Doc (Joaquin Phoenix,) a drugged out detective whose presence feels like The Dude meets Phillip Marlowe, which may sound like a compliment but only serves to remind the audience how much better both The Big Lebowski and The Long Goodbye are. He gets a visit from Shasta (Katherine Waterson,) an ex-girlfriend of his who is involved in a plot involving an affair, a wealthy man (Eric Roberts) and a mental institution. She asks him to help and Doc reluctantly says yes. Before long, Shasta is gone and Doc enlists the help of Bigfoot (Josh Brolin, getting the only two grins in the film,) a hot headed detective with dreams of becoming an actor and Sauncho (Benicio Del Toro,) a lawyer with an uncanny knack for getting people out of things. The plot also involves a missing man who has joined a cult (Owen Wilson,) a sketchy nightclub with an employee (Hong Chau) who helps Doc and a crazy dentist (Martin Short.)
The whole not making sense and throwing curve balls every few seconds at the audience thing may have worked had Anderson done anything to insert any life into the picture. However, he constantly seems content on just letting the cameras roll and watching the actors work. With a cast this great, that seems like a good method but they don't seem to have any clue what to do with the script they just read. There are many moments in which everyone seems to just be trying to say the lines fed to them. This is especially disappointing since everyone gives an excellent performance in theory. For such thinly drawn and one note characters, the actors work really hard to make something out of them but they all end up being dragged down by the pretentious and genuinely inept script. Short, an incredibly talented comic, especially ends up getting stuck with a scene that feels like the random thoughts of a five year old.
Phoenix and Brolin try as hard as possible and I can safely say they're good in the film even if the screenplay doesn't let most people in the audience see that. However, Inherent Vice is an unfunny so-called comedy that commits its biggest sin by being extremely boring. Writer-director Anderson is obviously more than competent at making a film. However, this way too long two and a half hour disaster is not the way to prove it.
(1 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for drug use throughout, sexual content, graphic nudity, language and some violence)
This has cult classic written all over it. It's initial reception will be the most divisive film in Anderson's career, but it will become this generation's Big Lebowski.
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