Licorice Pizza is a tasty treat

Posted on 8th September 2022

Fans of Paul Thomas Anderson films won’t be disappointed by this leisurely exploration of dysfunctional young love. Like Punch-Drunk Love, Boogie Nights and Inherent Vice it takes its time to work its way into your affections, with carefully crafted portraits of its strangely beguiling leads, played out in front of a pitch-perfect 70s backdrop where the San Fernando Valley is portrayed as a fantastical playground.

Cooper Hoffman (very obviously the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman) is Gary Valentine, a fifteen, going on forty, year old child actor and entrepreneur. When he’s not on stage he is selling waterbeds or pinging pinball. Wildly improbable yet oddly believable, he is perfectly matched by Alana Kane (played by Alana Haim of the rock band ‘Haim’ in her debut film) as  his quirky, diffident love interest and older woman. They spend most of the film not being in a relationship, and it’s a testament to Anderson’s story-telling skills that he keeps you guessing right up until the final reel (as they used to have back then).

The film is packed with cheeky cameos – Sean Pean, Bradley Cooper and even Alana’s sisters pop up along the way – adding colour and character to a film already crammed with delightful vignettes and scene stealing performances. John Michael Higgins trades in his Japanese wives as one might trade cars, while Harriet Sansom Harris, playing Gary’s agent, memorably describes Alana as pit-bull dog with sex appeal and a Jewish nose. What keeps the movie grounded amidst all that craziness is our central odd couple, who remain entirely believable, notwithstanding the bonkers adventures they get up to.

David Vass