It had been a while since we had a rambling, talky movie from director Paul Thomas Anderson. His last feature came out in 2017, so I guess we were due. In the interim, Anderson made a bunch of music videos for the band Haim, which is how he wound up casting Alana Haim in his latest, “Licorice Pizza.”
Haim plays Alana Kane, a 25-year-old photographer's assistant. Helping with a yearbook shoot, she meets 15-year-old Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman), a confident, charismatic child actor. The cheeky teen asks Alana out, and, out of curiosity, she agrees to dinner. They become friends, then business partners, and eventually a mutual attraction blooms. The film has faced some criticism over this May-December romance, but, to be fair, Alana acknowledges the creepiness of the relationship, and it's worth noting that the two do not have sex.
What happens here is that “Licorice Pizza” fools you. The film looks like it will be a coming-of-age tale about a 15-year-old boy, but it turns out to be a coming-of-age tale about a 25-year-old woman. The story is about Alana and her frustrated attempts to enter the adult world. Her photographer employer sexually harasses her by patting her butt. Her dad treats her like a child, quizzing her about her whereabouts when she comes home late. Every time she opens the door to adulthood, she sees people behaving badly, as exemplified by a show-off actor (Sean Penn) and a psychopathic film producer (Bradley Cooper). Compared to these assholes, the open-hearted Gary starts to look like a safer bet.
Alana Haim, in her first feature, pretty much carries the film on her narrow shoulders. She has this interesting, beautiful, hook-nosed face, and the singer turns out to be a decent actress. Some of the supporting stars, including Bradley Cooper and Sean Penn, provide moments of brilliance. Otherwise, though, the movie drags through its 2 hour 13 minute run-time. This is the film debut for Cooper Hoffman, son of the late Philip Seymour, and his performance is uneven, showing only brief glimmers of his father's talent. The story also just drags and seems pointless at times, veering off into a number of narrative dead-ends. Truth is, this is a recurring feature of Paul Thomas Anderson's films. Many of them have some great moments, but the only one I would re-watch is "Boogie Nights." I would recommend “Licorice Pizza” only for cinephiles who don't mind wading through a lot of filler to enjoy the latest, and certainly not the greatest, by a brilliant, but self-indulgent, director.
As for that title, it has absolutely nothing to do with the movie. Yet another self-indulgence, Licorice Pizza was the name of a record store Paul Thomas Anderson used to frequent back in the '70's, even though the store does not appear in the movie. It's kind of like the Who song “Baba O'Reilly.” (70's music fans will know what I mean.)
2.5 stars out of 5
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