Inherent Vice · reception & legacy

2014 · Paul Thomas Anderson

How Inherent Vice has been received, argued over, and remembered.

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 favourite — 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

Influences Paul Thomas Anderson has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

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.