"Somehow, 'Inherent Vice' director Paul Thomas Anderson ('Boogie Nights,' 'Magnolia') and his up-for-anything lead, Joaquin Phoenix, have managed the impossible. They’ve turned Thomas Pynchon’s work into a slapstick noir homage that doesn’t just reward but demands multiple viewings.
"Phoenix’s extraordinary performance — which earned him a Golden Globe nomination — pulls the movie’s infinite strands together. But this twisty tale takes so many foggy turns that you’ll want to approach it with a plan.
"The story is set in 1970 L.A. Our narrator (Joanna Newsom) describes these as 'perilous times, astrologically speaking, for dopers.' That’s certainly true for Doc (Joaquin Phoenix), a private detective generally found in a chilled-out fog. He’s roused to unusual levels of action when his beautiful ex, Shasta Fay (Katherine Waterston), disappears.
"She’s been dating a shady real estate mogul (Eric Roberts), and Doc is soon entangled in a citywide web of illegal activities. He gets help from a disdainful cop (Josh Brolin), a deputy D.A. (Reese Witherspoon), some ex-junkies (Owen Wilson, Jena Malone) and his lawyer (Benicio Del Toro). But he’s also got to contend with plenty of villains, including a drug-running businessman (Martin Donovan) and a depraved dentist (Martin Short).
They’re all connected somehow, but keep your focus on Doc. Within just one of Anderson’s gorgeously composed long takes, Phoenix can shift almost imperceptibly from shaggy passivity to hilarious ineptitude to heartbreaking pathos.
"As for Anderson, his outsized ambitions have more than paid off. It’s one thing to be the first filmmaker confident — or crazy — enough to tackle the vibrant madness of Pynchon’s prose. It’s quite another to get it right."
-- Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News