Movie Reaction: Licorice Pizza

Formula: Harold & (Maude – 40 Years) ^ Inherent Vice

 

The ability to make a movie that doesn’t really go anywhere is a skill not a lot of directors have. It’s hard to make a rambling movie that feels like it was time well spent. When it goes wrong, you end up with a mess like Under the Silver Lake. Three directors come to mind when I think of this kind of movie: Cameron Crowe, Richard Linklater, and Paul Thomas Anderson. Crowe and Linklater are better known for these, because they make “hang-out” movies. Dazed and Confused and Almost Famous are movies that you just want to chill with. That’s why no one complains when Linklater basically does the same movie again with Everybody Wants Some!! or Crowe releases longer cuts of Almost Famous. PTA is great at these too, but he often gets Oscar love with them. Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Inherent Vice are scattered movies with thinly connected chapters, yet they all feel of a piece. You get to the end and even though it’s not that clear why you went on that journey, it feels right. Licorice Pizza is very much in that vein.

 

[Note: After writing this, I remembered the Coen brothers. They are so idiosyncratic that it almost feels unfair to include them. They certainly make movies that don’t really go anywhere though.]

 

The plot of this movie is best summarized as a 15-year-old boy and 25-year-old woman become friends and possibly more in 1970s Los Angeles. The 2h20m movie is just a collection of adventures they go on: often together, sometimes apart. The 15-year-old, Gary, is played by Cooper Hoffman. The 25-year-old woman, Alana, is played by Alana Haim. While the age gap of the actors is actually even larger, it’s hard to notice in the movie itself. Gary is a very assured young-man. He has endless confidence and always has an angle. He’s the kind of person that’s going to be a success by hook or by crook. Everyone seems to know him and like him. Alana, meanwhile, is very much still trying to figure herself out. She’s a listless 20-something in Los Angeles, open to just about anything. Maybe she’ll be an actress. Maybe she’ll date a celebrity. Maybe she’ll go into business with Gary. It’s easy to see why Alana and Gary appeal to each other. His confidence and her willingness to try anything open them to a lot of adventures. While the movie is pretty long, it didn’t feel that way because I enjoyed all the little chapters of their story.

 

There’s something so familiar about this movie. It’s sort of a love story, but I watched it much more as a friendship story. It’s similar to Harold and Maude or Penny and William in Almost Famous. They are kindred spirits; friends by chance who just click for some reason. I haven’t had a friendship like this, but I’ve seen them. Sure, there might be something romantic to it, but that’s not the point. It’s similar to how in every romantic comedy it’s way more fun to see the two people as friends before they become a couple.

 

It’s got plenty of the PTA touches too. He has a very offbeat sense of humor where you almost need an extra beat to figure out if something is tense or funny. There’s an unhinged sequence with Bradley Cooper as Jon Peters that embodies this. It’s pure comedy but entirely because Cooper as Peters is a sociopath. And even in the middle of that, there’s a surprisingly harrowing sequence driving a truck downhill backwards. The segment isn’t quite Alfred Molina and the firecrackers in Boogie Nights, but it’s not far off. I really like the use of long shots in this. He uses them a lot but for pretty mundane scenes. Normally directors make a meal out of how they can do an unbroken take for some intricate fight scene or something. PTA does it just to show someone running for a while. And really, does any director capture 1970s L.A. better than him? Over the years, I’ve come to realize that I’m really a sucker for that era on screen.

 

There are no towering performances in this like in many other PTA movies. Alana Haim is funny and shockingly at ease in her first film role. Cooper Hoffman has unbelievable swagger for his debut as well. If there was a “Guest Acting Emmy” equivalent to the Oscars, Bradley Cooper would have that locked up for this. He’s barely in the movie but makes such a huge impression. It makes me sad he doesn’t do comedies anymore. The cast is too huge to list everyone off. Just know it’s the familiar mix of A-list actors, familiar faces you don’t know the name of, and complete newcomers.

 

I fell just short of loving this movie. That’s where I land on most PTA movies for some reason. I love the craft. There’s a ton to unpack in the movie. Great performances. It’s one of those lovely screenplays that sounds unfocused if you describe it but somehow isn’t when you watch it. There is something slightly too academic about it that I can’t put my finger on that stops me from loving it. I could see it growing on me a lot or being yet another PTA movie that I’m always saying I should watch again and never do.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend