It's Gordita Beach, California 1970. Larry "Doc" Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) is a weed-smoking hippie private eye. His ex Shasta Fay Hepworth tells him about her fear that her lover real estate mogul Mickey Wolfmann is going to be abducted by his wife and her lover. This leads to a long winding investigation that connects to a ship called Golden Fang and a drug smuggling ring. Det. Bigfoot Bjornsen (Josh Brolin) is the hard up cop.
Paul Thomas Anderson infuse this with a surreal strange hippie hard-boiled vibe. There are good performances. The plot is a meandering thing in a drug induced haze. It's hard and odd. It's a fascinating mood but I never really got involved with the story. Other than Shasta, it's hard to figure out what's in it for Doc in this case. If he saved Wolfmann, wouldn't Shasta live happily ever after with him? Did Tariq Khalil actually pay him? I don't mind a convoluted case but the little things do bug me. When does he get paid? This plot is relatively easy to follow but isn't easy to digest. Characters come in and out of the movie all the time. It's like a semi-coherent dream that stops making sense once you start dissecting it.
Paul Thomas Anderson infuse this with a surreal strange hippie hard-boiled vibe. There are good performances. The plot is a meandering thing in a drug induced haze. It's hard and odd. It's a fascinating mood but I never really got involved with the story. Other than Shasta, it's hard to figure out what's in it for Doc in this case. If he saved Wolfmann, wouldn't Shasta live happily ever after with him? Did Tariq Khalil actually pay him? I don't mind a convoluted case but the little things do bug me. When does he get paid? This plot is relatively easy to follow but isn't easy to digest. Characters come in and out of the movie all the time. It's like a semi-coherent dream that stops making sense once you start dissecting it.