[7.0/10] I love the texture of Paul Thomas Anderson’s movies. There are few filmmakers working today who are better at evoking a particular time or place with all the light and color of the cinema. As in the seminal Boogie Nights, Anderson again conjures an image of Southern California in the 1970s that is simultaneously nigh-magical and viscerally real at the same time. To dip into one of his cinematic worlds is a treat in and of itself.
But I don’t really like Gary Valentine. I don’t really like Alanna Kane. And while there’s something to be said for Anderson putting together a slice-of-life collage of a peculiar childhood, I don’t need to see those vignettes hung onto the spine of a dysfunctional romance between an adult and a high schooler. Licorice Pizza is nice to dip into for the craft on display in almost every moment. But it doesn’t just feel shaggy. In places, it feels pointless, and sometimes even unpleasant.
Mainly that comes down to the two main characters and the fact that Anderson and company anchor the movie around a romance I don’t really want to see blossom. I can set aside the age difference for the purposes of cinematic storytelling. Gary and Alana look and act similar in age, so while intellectually there’s a discomfort in the distance of years between them, the look and level of maturity between them seems to put them on the same level psychologically for a work of fiction.
But there’s not much to latch onto in their relationship. Gary Valentine is an operator, a schmoozer, who lures Alana more than he ever seeks an honest emotional connection with her. That’s fine! He’s fifteen! People thrice his age struggle to make honest emotional connections with people. It’s just hard to invest in a relationship founded on that, especially when Valentine calls to mind the practiced preciousness of indie movie teens like Max Fischer in Rushmore without ever having the sort of humbling and turn toward the true and earnest that Max does.
For her part, Alana is a combative jerk, ready to respond with any show of affection or interest with a proclamation of “Idiot!” or some other insult, occasionally accompanied but mild but menacing physical violence. There’s parts of her personality which are endearing -- her sense of being the black sheep and wanting to get out which put a chip on her shoulder -- but her combination of nigh-teasing friendliness paired with frequent, jarring acerbic turns makes her a hard one to warm to.
That’s life though. If there’s a defense for Licorice Pizza in that regard, it’s that as one character says toward the end of the film, “They’re all shits.” It seems meant to remind Alana that she’s met a lot of assholes over the course of the film, but for all his immaturity, Gary’s the only one who’s actually shown care and kindness to her. But it fits as something broader, where all the general jerkery that goes on between Alana and Gary can be chalked up to real people having dysfunctional friendships that are messier than those we normally see on the silver screen.
There’s two problems with that though. The first is that much of the time Licorice Pizza plays like a fantasy, or certainly a very heightened reality. Supposedly the screenplay is based on actual life events of one of Anderson’s friends as a kid. Suffice it to say, the experiences of being a child star flown out to New York for press junkets, opening a waterbed store and pinball palace, running into Hollywood bigwigs who leap flaming pits on motorcycles or threaten bystanders over gas shortages, and helping to manage a mayoral campaign seem downright fantastical, and certainly unrelatable, to those of us apparently unlucky enough not to have grown up in Encino in the 1970s.
The upshot is that there’s a disharmony between the seemingly exaggerated world that Gary and Alana occupy and the “warts and all” friendship the film wants to dramatize between them. It’s hard to take the messiness as real when it’s juxtaposed with a hodgepodge of over-the-top adventures that seem to have little tether to reality or clear cause and effect between them.
The second is that Alana and Gary suck to each other. Okay. They’re young. They’re impulsive. They’re still both works in progress. But their entire M.O. throughout the film is for one to be aloof to the other until the other one makes them jealous, which starts the cycle anew. Even if you can get past the age difference, it never feels like a healthy relationship, or one that could blossom into that, just two kids taunting and poking at each other until they decide the rest of the world they’ve been chasing sucks even more.
The key is supposed to be that when the chips are down, they look out for each other. Gary’s mistakenly arrested for murder (another bizarre interlude in the conveyor belt of disconnected episodes here), and Alana races to the station on foot to help him. Alana falls off the back of a motorcycle during a stunt, and while everyone’s eyes are on the actor who makes the jump, Gary rushes to look after her. Running is a recurring visual motif here, brought back at the end of the picture, when the two young people run in search of one another and exalt when they both finally admit their affections.
These scenes are meant to show that despite the outward prickliness and schmoozing, deep down the two truly care for one another. But it’s not enough to make up for the other ninety percent of the movie where either they play cruel games for one another or, at best, don’t seem like a healthy fit.
That wouldn’t be such a big problem if it weren’t the skeleton the rest of the movie is built around. Take away the romance, and all you have is a bunch of random vignettes that work better as individual snippets rather than part of a larger narrative. Licorice Pizza is a patchwork quilt of these standalone portraits, vaguely united by the common characters involved, but mostly an excuse to stitch together a random assortment of stories from someone’s SoCal youth without any real connective tissue or sense of build or unity between them.
And yet, I’d take many, if not most of them on their own. Anderson knows how to construct a scene, even if the broader compendium of them comes off a little wonky and misshapen. Harriet Sansom Harris nearly steals the show as an eccentric but memorable child talent agent in a one-scene wonder. Tom Waits is as garbled-yet-effervescent as ever as an old director who spurs his actor buddy to perform an impromptu stunt. And Joseph Cross offers the most touching interlude in the film, as the boyfriend of a mayoral candidate torn up over how the clash between political aspirations and their homoseuxality leaves him always having to put his needs to the side. Some of the episodes in the film go a little too over the top, but there’s something there, something worth keeping, in almost all of them.
Occasionally, that comes down to the pure craft of the moment. Anderson and co-cinematographer Michael Bauman are wizards with light. Whether it’s evoking a smoke-filled bar in low light while an old actor tells his tales, brightening the cacophony of colors of 1970s fashion and decor, or lighting Alana in silhouette from a distance, the two of them and their team evoke moods and simply present striking images which take full advantage of the medium.
At the same time, Anderson pulls off still more of his famously well-choreographed longer takes. There’s a regular sense of motion in this film, with extended shots that follow the characters as they walk down one throughway for another, capturing the energy of movement and even chaos as it stalks them around the streets of these Los Angeles neighborhoods. You may not always love the people pounding the pavement, but you will almost always feel like you’re there.
Maybe that's enough. Perhaps without the nostalgia for this time and place, it’s harder to connect with people like Gary and Alana. It’s tough to wonder why Anderosn didn’t just release a series of shorts about a grab bag of experiences in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s, rather than smushing them all together when they don’t fit. It’s more difficult to see why we should root for a romance between two people who don’t seem to know how to be kind to one another, even if they do like each other.
But Licorice Pizza does bring you into their world, the peculiar ecosystem of eccentric Hollywood stars, child entrepreneurs, and luminous dreams that painted block after block and row after row. Wherever Anderson goes, he takes you with him, and that’s worth something, even if you’re not enamored with the fellow passengers he’s selected for the ride.
Went into this thinking that the discourse online and similar think pieces HAD to be overblown and had to admit, they had good gripes.
If this were almost any other director this film would be such a bigger issue and is that right? Every "cinephile" adores PTA so he gets a pass from people?
Some other thoughts:
- Wanted to leave the film thinking everyone is overhyping Alana Haim, and jokes fucking on me because she slays
- Should a 25 yr old female and 15 yr old male romcom be celebrated?
- Regardless of if they spend the rest of their lives together or not, does that negate the fact that the relationship is being celebrated?
- Should it just be swept under the rug of "welp, this was what the 70s was like"?
- Why does the Asian bit play for laughs?!? Why include it at all when it serves no purpose to the plot and is only a low hanging fruit chuckle from the crowd?
- I love Benny Safdie, but should he have been cast in this role as a closeted individual when there is otherwise so much pressure to accurately cast actors for those roles?
weird movie. the performances are solid, but the script is a mess (and weird). It couldn't really grab my attention, and I really don't understand what the critics see in it
I just...didn't vibe with what this was putting down. I can appreciate the attention to detail, the performances put in by all involved and the somewhat rambling, cerebral style of storytelling; it just didn't connect with me how I think it was intending. I'll echo what I've seen by others online, Alana Haim should really pursue this as a full time gig. She is pretty great in this, and probably carried the whole thing along with the entire Haim family. I'm just not sure what this movie was trying to say, or if it was just trying to capture a moment in time? Or was just a throwback to the "good-ol-days" of the 70s? That and the somewhat questionable age dynamic of the two leads in the story does raise a bunch of questions that I'm sure have been discussed to death on other platforms. Not for me, but I can appreciate the merits and why people are raving about it.
Yeah, I dont know. Its one of those movies I wanna say I liked it, but actually i had no idea what was going ok.
I do not understand those high notes, this is another story about difficult love with a fashionable theme of going back in time to the 1970s.
Well this was a very romanticized story of 28y old pedophile with a 15y.o boy. Alana at some points asks "is it normal to hang out with 15 years old kids?". Well mr P. Th. Anderson, no it is not normal. And of course dating a kid of that age isn't either. Awful movie
Liked the opening scene then I got lost in the story line, pointless scenes and weird dialogue. Can't believe this got Oscar nominated.
Alana Haims performane is probably the only thing I'll remember from this in the long run.
While it has some funny moments the rest is a confused mess
Honestly, there are days I despair over the members of the Academy of Motion Pictures, or Hollywood in general. This movie is flagrant self flagellation. If the industry wasn’t so enamoured with itself, this film, no matter how many A-listers it cast, would never have seen the light of day, let alone been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. I’m embarrassed for them. I give this film a 3 (bad) out of 10. [Inane Dramedy]
I went into this knowing absolutely nothing about the plot or the actors, only knowing that it was nominated for a bunch of awards.
Imagine my shock when I found out it was about pedophilia, of course we as an audience try to justify it and even the main character tries to justify it and ignore the fact that she is jealous because of a 15 y.o. boy.
We get dragged into the happenings of this couple and get a couple of laughs and some tense moments, but for the most part we get to see them grow as individuals, one of them running towards their feelings and another one running from them, just to meet each other at the end.
A film that is kind of jumbled and all over the place but in the best possible way. 70s vibes while Alana and Gary go back and forth deciding on if the other is making them jealous or if they should move onto the next.
Although I recently had a positive experience with his first film, Hard Eight, on the whole I've come to realize that PT Anderson films are not my speed. I recognize the quality filmmaking. I recognize the quality acting. I recognize the quality of pretty much everything on display except for the story being told. In this case, the story doesn't feel like much of a story at all. Less of a cohesive whole and more of a series of short stories, each introducing new, short-term characters to bounce off of our two protagonists and their strange/disturbing relationship. I didn't have anyone to root for and I didn't particularly sympathize with any of these characters. It was just 2+ hours of well executed but generally uncomfortable viewing. I will say that all of my critiques are clearly the product of intentional decisions on the part of the filmmakers. This is exactly the movie they wanted to make, it's just not a movie for me.
Great movie from writer/director Wes Anderson!
Almost Famous meets Once Upon a Time In Hollywood… A cute movie with some questionable choices. Hyper-americanised stories never really resonate with me much. Alana Haim is the best part about it, hope she keeps acting!
There is so much subtext in this movie that its plot doesn't seem the most important thing. It's, more than the story of Gary's attraction to Alana, the reflection of a certain time in a certain place, the reflection of the America of dreams and false realities (like Jack Holden speaking with dialogues from his own characters). PTA looking in the mirror, winking at his movies, talking about impossible dreams.
Is this one of the best movies that I've ever seen? No, of course not. But what Anderson has done here is really special. First, I can't remember the last time that I saw a courtship quite like this one. The two leads are absolutely extraordinary. I can't believe that Haim had never really acted before as she is captivating in the role. I think part of the magic that the two of them have together is that while they are dealing with very adult complexities in their relationship there is still a sweetness that wins the day. I don't think this film works without their chemistry.
I think that Alanna's character is an interesting one all on her own. In most scenes she appears to look the same age as Greg but in some scenes (mostly around people older than her) she appears to be made up to look older. In her travels she gets to see different men (regardless of age) in all of their glory - arrogant, womanizing, hustling, etc. While she is often naïve in her own way she gets her own education when it comes to men.
I gave the film a little more credit because of its originality.
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my mom was alana's age when she met my father, who was gary's age so i really have nothing to say
Even Bradley Cooper couldn't spoil this.
Do you know that feeling when you are freshly in love, but you don't know yet where these feelings will lead?
Whether the love will be reciprocated, whether you will be hurt, everything seems possible and the state of uncertainty is on the one hand pure fear and on the other hand the greatest hope. Licorice Pizza is watching Alana and Gary for two hours in this state between absolute elation and absolute vulnerability and at the same time going through the same with the plot. On the one hand, nothing really spectacular happens and on the other hand, what happens is incredibly captivating. After each scene you wonder what will happen in the next, anything seems possible. I am grateful to the film for this experience.
Cooper is magnetic, which was a nice treat. As it was to see such an authentic, feel-good that's just jam packed with quirky characters and uncomfortable situations. This may just be up there with one of Anderson's best.
A bright and breezy movie from one of my favourite directors. It's entertaining throughout but as it tries to cover a wide number of plot points, it loses coherency towards the end.
My least favorite type of movie https://boxd.it/2CEV3z
People who thought Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was boring are obviously going to be bored by this one too.
And forget all the faux moralistic outrage (also seen with Call Me By Your Name) . Cinema is not here to teach moral lessons.
Weirdly charming and funny. Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman gives out solid performances here, and PTA is a master in directing as usual — every scene is shot beautifully
Paul Thomas Anderson managed in this film to invite us to discover the love of a semi-adolescent (and somewhat illegal) couple on a seventies journey of personal discovery and first love. The film shines in terms of its production design, photography and costumes, directed by Florencia Martin, Michael Bauman and Mark Bridges, with whom he had previously worked. All the atmosphere and the lights transport you to another era to live the adventure in which the leading characters enroll. Speaking of leads, what a good choice of actors: Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim take you with their simple faces to the seventies, they have the perfect features to play Gary and Alana. Undoubtedly, the director presented a personal work that invites emotion and perhaps nostalgia, but the script has some elements that seemed unnecessary to me and made the film longer than it should have been, such as the appearance of secondary characters who did not add anything and only distract the plot from its purpose. That's why in the second half of the movie, I started to get distracted and even wait for it to end. It's a nice movie, but not consistent enough to keep the viewer aware of everything that happens until the end.
I wonder if during Pizzagate, licorice meant young boy. I'm turned off to this movie by what I'm reading in the comments. Anyone Feel the comments are overblown?
Nice and pleasant love story. Not all the plot passages are necessarily too original, and in some cases they can be a bit silly, but the characters development during the movie is well thought and carried, leaving a very good overall impression.
What are the requirements for a movie to have the romance genre and how does this not meet them
As a nostalgic look back at LA of a certain vintage, I much preferred this to the Tarantino film from a couple of years back.
I can't say I enjoyed 'Licorice Pizza' as much as most, but this flick from Paul Thomas Anderson is a good one.
Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman are entertaining in the lead roles, with Haim particularly standing out - though Philip Seymour Hoffman's kid definitely improves as the film ticks by. There are some amusing roles for more well known faces, my favourite parts of this 2021 release are in fact with one of them - funny stuff with a certain someone (won't spoil who, just in case) who made his film debut in 'Wet Hot American Summer'! Some parts are amiss, mind; e.g. the strange Japanese wives bits.
I did find the dialogue a little pretentious I can't lie, mainly early on as we get to know the characters - once everything is fleshed out and set it's all shipshape, to be fair. The film gets a tad aimless near the end, I'd actually say the pacing is perfectly fine but it does feel as long as it is in terms of the run time - I felt every second of the 130 or so minutes.
All in all, I'd recommend it. Major film buffs will lap it up, evidently.
For an European that was not born when the events take place, there are a lot of special moments on the movie that I could not fully capture. Even by googling about it, the impact is low. But all the rest is amazing. The love story, the coming of age dilemma, the soundtrack . The lead actors are amazing and PTA conducts everything with subtle mastery.
Casually promoting pedophilia:nauseated_face::nauseated_face:
After a string of mature, serious and heavy films, it’s nice to have the old PTA back for a minute. Here we meet the director who isn’t afraid to have fun, the man who loves long tracking shots, the man who knows how to authentically capture the 70s; it’s all in here. The plot’s pretty loose, it’s very much a hangout movie where the main thread focusses on the journey of our two main characters through life. There’s not much of a structure to the rest of it, actors and characters will pop up for certain bits and then get dropped for the rest of the film. None of that matters, because these main characters are so rich and complex, it’s more than enough to carry the film by itself. They’re both toxic in their own right, but also completely understandable and relatable at the same time, and the movie does a great job at not judging anyone in an obvious way. I love the cinematography, the music choices are fresh and tasteful, it’s funny and filled with memorable sequences, it’s subtle and all of the performances are great. Despite this probably being his lightest film on the surface, PTA did not lose his poignant voice as a director here.
8/10
I really like P.T. Anderson movies, especially Punch-Drunk Love, and Boogie Nights. This one is very much like the latter, and not only because it is set in the 1970s.
There is a lot of story packed in here, but it focuses on our two main characters: first, Gary, then, Alana. The movie takes us on a ride with them individually, then together, repeat.
While I was watching this, I was fully invested, but once the credits rolled, I was hit with the disappointment of "is that it?"
I think the primary issue here is the world Alana, and Gary live in. We get loads of colorful characters that are common in Anderson's films, but they just feel like cogs in a machine: they just show up, then they leave.
Another problem here is the disfunction between Alana, and Gary. This is supposed to be a love story, right? There is the issue of the age difference, but what's worse is how Alana will sometimes become angry out of nowhere, yet it plays more like a plot device: "We need drama here. Act like you have BPD, Alana!" This is all well and good, but I'm supposed to like the characters, right? I'm supposed to want them to end up together, right?
Anyway, the title doesn't make sense. If you're a P.T. Anderson fan, this is a must watch, come on. That being said, I'd never watch it again.
This one was on my watch list for far too long! I was not sure what to expect, and that led to a better and worse result. Better because it took my on an unexpected ride, but worse because it was a bit more of a slow burn than I would typically like. With that being said, I do definitely recommend checking this out because it is a pretty solid story and well acted!
Rating: 3.5/5 - 8/10 - Would Recommend
An offbeat coming-of-age story, the plot and constant A star cameos continually surprised me which held my interest. At the same time, these twists sometimes just felt stupid. The main characters are both unlikeable as well and I could never fully root for them. Still, I might watch again. I wouldn't recommend to everyone but might to some as it's very unique.
Licorice Pizza is the most Hollywood movie made last year. It was such a non film like i just didn't care about anything that happens because despite the movie being over two hours long it still doesn't even manage to justify its existence. The problematic aspects weren't challenged and didn't add anything to the plot it was boring and the aesthetics weren’t even as interesting as they could have been. Plot points and storylines are introduced, never being touched on further in the film or even effecting the plot in the slightest.
I get the point is trying to be made that Alana is aimless and somewhat of a social climber looking for fame, but nobody seems to react to anything like a normal human being would. She just shows up half naked at her Orthodox Jewish parents house (where her older sisters and her still live with them instead of being married) and he yells a bit but...that's it. The scene just ends.
The plot goes absolutely no where, with the less than mediocre and one-note acting not even helping it along. Felt like a 15 year old wrote it and kept going, "and then this happens" which I thought was going to be the payoff at the very end. I was actually rooting for the leads to breakup and leave their separate ways, so the ending didn't really come off as sweet or emotional to me.
I genuinely feel like I watched a different movie than everyone else because holy shit this film is the epitome of overhyped Oscar-bait with lots of famous actors and relatives of famous actors.
Feel good romcom. Too much unnecessary running though.
Weird but super good, loved it
Quite simply atrocious.
Not one redeeming moment.
Boring beyond belief. Unlikeable characters, uninspired cinematography, awful writing.
One of the worst movies ever by a major director.
One star!
A well-created and executed meh.
Ponderous with punctuated bits of interest.
Story meanders but puts all its chips on the two lead characters charm being enough to carry it... I'm not sure it does because established stars usurp them with two cameos that show true screen magnetism.
Not the best because of the story. The direction is fine and the world is immaculately accurate. But it's no Once Upon A Time In Hollywood - more When Harry Met Sally crossed with Superbad. Really.
6/10
A romantic comedy with two young people, but with a great age difference and with the peculiar humor of the director
Look, it's a good movie overall, but man, the moment when Bradley Cooper showed it was chaotic and wonderful.
He shows up with intensity, threatens to kill some teenagers, and leaves only to appear out of nowhere in the dark streets of California to hop a ride with the same teens he threatens to kill, only to threaten another teenager for gas, he then proceeds to destroy public property for no reason while mumbling under his breath and finally concluding his screen time by asking out two women walking along the streets.
After that, you never see him again. Amazing!
I liked it, but was also somewhat bored by it in parts. Was cool seeing PSH's kid act, the resemblance grows by the day. Avoiding the age gap controversy, it was a well filmed picture w good performances and some fun cameos to boot. 6.9 for me.
What a fever dream this is.
All cast worked well and it was alright but near the end went off track and got confusing and the plot got a little silly.
Shout by Richard MurrayVIP 5BlockedParent2022-02-24T18:57:23Z
I won't remember a bit of this in six months. The acting is overall quite good, but the story-line is... boring? That's not quite fair. It's just uninspiring.