Rated: R
With his wolverine whiskers, druggy murmur and unfocused gaze, Joaquin Phoenix is spot on as Doc, the pothead-private-eye-protagonist of Inherent Vice. Set in L.A., 1970, Inherent Vice is a little like a countercultural shaggy-dog version of Chinatown, with its labyrinth of conspiracy opened by a shady real estate transaction. Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson adapted the film from Thomas Pynchon’s novel, catching some of the manic energy. Yet, at two hours and 28 minutes, the movie feels long and delivers little laughter as it paints California post-Charles Manson as a party in the process of being coopted. Inherent Vice is the first time anyone has tried to turn Pynchon’s notoriously thorny writings into a film; credit Anderson for ambition, but perhaps the author’s style works better on the page than on screen.
