Sightlines · reception
How Inherent Vice was received
2014 · Paul Thomas Anderson · Inherent Vice on Sightlines
The arc
Booed-at-worst, shrugged-at-best in 2014 — a rare PTA box-office flop that critics called incomprehensible — it's since been reclaimed as a beloved stoner-noir hangout movie, with a vocal contingent now calling it top-tier Anderson.
What’s debated
The eternal fight: is the impossible-to-follow plot the whole point (you're meant to be as fogged as Doc) or a genuine flaw — and does 'just vibe with it' count as a defense?
Its footprint
Josh Brolin bellowing 'moto panekaiku!' at a Japanese pancake counter is a permanent meme, and the film has become shorthand for the 'vibes over plot' watch — the movie people admit they didn't follow but can't stop rewatching.
Where it stands
A cult object and Letterboxd favorite — the divisive PTA that functions as a cinephile handshake: loving it marks you as a certain kind of viewer.
Did you know? It's the first — and still only — Thomas Pynchon novel ever adapted for the screen, from an author famous for refusing Hollywood for half a century.
Named by the director
- The Long Goodbye (1973) — Anderson acknowledged Altman's shaggy LA private-eye picture as the obvious touchstone for Doc's stoned detective wanderings.
- Top Secret! (1984) — Anderson repeatedly cited the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker spoof as a key influence on the film's gag-driven comic register.
- Robert Altman — Anderson's declared master — he has long cited Altman as his biggest influence, and invoked him throughout the Inherent Vice press rounds.