“Licorice Pizza” Review
Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) and Alana Kane (Alana Haim) run from responsibility in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza.” Set in the 70s, the film sees the pair become friends and try to make something of themselves.
To me, there are two kinds of filmmakers: those that are able to constantly make films (Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Steven Spielberg) and those that meticulously take their time to craft stories (Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, David Fincher). Neither way is wrong, especially since all of the aforementioned filmmakers are among the best of all time.
Paul Thomas Anderson is among the latter group and has made some of the greatest films of the past three decades including “Boogie Nights,” “The Master” and, my personal favorite, “There Will Be Blood.” His most recent film, “Licorice Pizza,” is a delightfully weird film that is justified by its title. But beneath this strange tale is a quirky relationship that will make you fall in love with the film.
In the San Fernando Valley in 1973, Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) is a 15-year-old actor who’s getting too old to be cute for those child roles and too young for more serious roles (John Hughes was still a decade away). But he has a talent for business and sets up companies to earn money. One day, he meets Alana Kane (Alana Haim), a 25-year-old with seemingly no direction in life. They strike a friendship, though Gary longs for something more, and they spend their days trying to grow up and get their lives together.
One thing I always love about going to the movies every weekend is how I get a front row seat to the upcoming talent of filmmaking. While Anderson has been a mainstay of cinemas for a long time, Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim make their film debuts in Licorice Pizza and their performances are nothing short of remarkable.
Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson not only handles the story of his film, but also serves as one of the directors of photography, giving the film a more authentic look.
It’s inevitable that Cooper Hoffman will be compared to his father, the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman, since he was in five of Anderson’s films. But, based on this sole performance, I can’t wait to see what Cooper Hoffman does next. In many ways, Gary wants to be an adult so bad and manages to convince himself he is one: eating in fancy restaurants, owning businesses and speaking the lingo of actors. But he’s still a kid with a faithful love for Alana, despite her not being interested in him.
The entire film is about the search for purpose and how difficult it can be for young people especially to find it. Alana has a particularly hard time as she tries to be serious, eventually working for Gary’s water bed company, but she’s hanging out with 15-year-olds. Together, Gary and Alana try to prove their worth and that relationship is fascinating.
The friendship that blossoms is filled with the entire spectrum of emotion: joy, sadness, frustration and the occasional pushing of a car to get gas. I found myself becoming emotionally involved with their relationship as it grew in this film.
Besides Haim and Cooper Hoffman’s incendiary performances, several great actors appear in the film playing characters based on real people including Sean Penn as aging actor Jack Holden, Christine Ebersole as a comedic actress and Bradley Cooper as an insane film director with severe anger issues. They all represent a different part of Gary’s life as an actor including what was and what he could become but are also a lot of fun, particularly Bradley Cooper who is unbelievably entertaining.
Nearly all of Paul Thomas Anderson’s films are set in the San Fernando Valley and he always manages to find a new way to express this region. In “Boogie Nights,” it's the glamor and grime of the 70s porno industry and in “There Will Be Blood” it’s turn-of-the-century oil fields. In “Licorice Pizza,” it’s a more innocent look at the 1970s which is gradually stripped away for something more real.
Bradley Cooper’s insane performance as director Jon Peters is delightful as he acts like a buffoon, deluded by his massive ego.
The title itself, while weird, is a reference to a chain of record stores in the San Fernando Valley which reminds Anderson of a simpler, more youthful time. Now, why the owner of the record stores decided to call them Licorice Pizza, I have no idea.
The way Anderson crafts this environment is incredibly tangible and makes you feel engulfed in the 70s just like “The Nice Guys” or “Almost Famous.” The soundtrack in particular brings out the time period with songs like “Life on Mars?,” “Peace Frog” and “But You’re Mine” sticking out.
As far as Anderson’s films go, this is a story that really meanders with lots of things happening and then stopping with no major ramifications while strange characters come and go. If anything, the film reminded me a bit of “The Big Lebowski.”
The film’s protagonist Gary was based on former child actor and producer Gary Goetzman who would go on to produce “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” “Where The Wild Things Are” and “News of the World” just like The Dude was based on eccentric producer Jeff Dowd. The plot is more about examining the characters’ growth rather than a gigantic story.
By the time the film ended, I was not only enthralled but I also wanted to know more about the life of Gary Goetzman. Maybe he should write a book.
Compared to the rest of his filmography, it’s hard to call “Licorice Pizza” the best Paul Thomas Anderson film. But much like Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” even a weaker film from this director is still phenomenal given the talents of the people in front of and behind the camera.
Whenever I go into a film by an auteur like Paul Thomas Anderson, I know I’m going to see something original. Something that I’ve never seen before. In a world where adaptations mean big money, something original feels like a breath of fresh air. “Licorice Pizza” is just that.
