Licorice Pizza (2021)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson. Cast: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper, Tom Waits, Maya Rudolph, Benny Safdie, John C. Reilly. 133 min. Drama/Comedy.

• This is a movie entirely about 70s vibes. It almost has no story, but you'll find yourself watching these characters for more than two hours, smiling, mesmerizing about pinball machines, the stripes on the knee-high white socks, the waterbed craze, and that rotary phone on the kitchen wall that used to be in every single home. You'll chuckle at Sean Penn's celebrity emptiness, laugh out loud at Bradley Cooper's insanity, and experience a very tense scene towards the end about a gay couple being exposed. There's even a blink-and-you'll miss-it moment with John C. Reilly as Herman Munster. To top it all off, our heroes are two sweet newcomers which exude the innocence of the 70s, in (of all places) San Fernando Valley. What is there not to love? What is there not to love in a P.T. Anderson movie? One of the best of 2021.
• Cool trivia: Cooper Hoffman, the male lead, is the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, the star of some of P.T. Anderson's best cinematic moments (in Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, The Master), the most hilarious being this one.

MoGo's rating: 8/10

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