Inherent Vice (2014)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Larry "Doc" Sportello	Joaquin Phoenix	½
Lieutenant "Bigfoot" Bjornsen	Josh Brolin
Coy Harlingen	Owen Wilson	-
Shasta Fay Hepworth	Katherine Waterston	½
Deputy District Attorney Penny Kimball	Reese Witherspoon	-
Sauncho Similax, Esq.	Benicio del Toro	-
Hope Harlingen	Jena Malone	-
Sortilège	Joanna Newsom	-
Petunia Leeway	Maya Rudolph	-
Tariq Khalil	Michael Kenneth Williams	-
Dr. Rudy Blatnoyd, D.D.S.	Martin Short	-
Japonica Fenway	Sasha Pieterse	-
Crocker Fenway	Martin Donovan	-
Michael Z. "Mickey" Wolfmann	Eric Roberts	-

Review

Paul Thomas Anderson’s take on the seedy underground world of corruption, drugs and sex cults in the 1970s is irreverently stylized. For the average viewer, this isn’t exactly nostalgia, even if I suspect it was for Anderson. Joaquin Phoenix plays a pot-smoking private eye who doesn’t investigate cases as much as he stumbles upon them. Following his journey is like playing a cinematic video game: New characters keep popping out of nowhere, and it’s up to you to decide whether they’re there to further the story or simply to add spice. Anderson creates a shell of a 1970s atmosphere and populates it with obscured plot devices. The mystery is the mystery; it is not borne out of anything but itself. Still, the picture has a certain introspective, illusory allure. With its exclusively idiosyncratic characters and environments, which are constantly fascinating and sometimes hilarious, it keeps you watching if not exactly engaged.