Licorice Pizza … not entirely sure what to make of this film.
Critics like it a lot more than I did … not all that uncommon with Paul Thomas Anderson films.
Some have described it as “authentic”, and maybe some of it feels that way, as many of the characters are based on real people, and many have no real movie experience.
Yet other parts - including one scene in particular - feel more like a Once Upon a Time in Hollywood/Tarantino knock-off.
There’s perhaps a bit of charm and innocence to a coming of age relationship movie starring two actors making their big screen debuts … Cooper Hoffman (son of Philip Seymour Hoffman) and singer Alana Haim (of the band HAIM).
Alana gives a good performance, but it seems perhaps a little over-the-top to have her, and other members of the Haim family in the film and using their real names.
And some of the film’s “innocence” is sacrificed at the outset when you learn the ages of the two lead characters, and realize only one of them is actually “coming of age”.
The age gap aids part of the storytelling, but may end up doing more harm than good. At one point Haim’s character questions whether it’s weird to be hanging out with a group of young teenagers …and maybe the filmmaker could’ve spent a little more time asking that question.
How you end up viewing the movie may depend on how you view the relationship.
If it works for you, you might find the film an engrossing exploration of the emotional given-and-take of a “first love”.
If it doesn’t, you might find it a long, drawn out “teen” movie set in the 70’s - hardly new brand terrain - with some interesting but ultimately disjointed vignettes featuring Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper and others.