LICORICE PIZZA (2021) ***

Gary (Cooper Hoffman) is a child star from the Valley who has a crush on the older Alana (Alana Haim).  He charms her, despite the obvious age difference, and coaxes her into becoming his partner on a variety of get-rich-quick schemes that involve everything from waterbeds to pinball arcades.  Even though Gary is much younger than Alana, he seems to have it all figured out as he is confident, cocky, and a born hustler.  Alana on the other hand is still coming into her own and uses Gary’s hairbrained scams as a way to hopefully find herself.  

Licorice Pizza is Paul Thomas Anderson’s ninth movie.  It’s probably his most lightweight and forgettable flick, but when it hits the sweet spot, it’s a good time.  The push-me-pull-you platonic love affair between the two leads is sweet up to a point.  Both Hoffman and Haim give naturalistic performances that help make their characters feel like offbeat quirky people and not just your typical stereotypical characters you’re used to seeing in these coming-of-age films.  

The plot is episodic at best and repetitive at worst.  Most of the time, it feels like Anderson wrote a YA novel and then decided to instead adapt it into a movie.  Scene transitions are sometimes choppy, and occasionally feel like chapters in a book.  It also doesn’t help that Gary’s constant ping-ponging from scheme to scheme gets a little tiresome after a while.  While Hoffman and Haim have definite chemistry, their characters’ on-again off-again antics causes the flick to go in circles.  

Interestingly enough, the movie really comes to life when a couple of old pros show up for extended cameos and momentarily steal the show.  Sean Penn is great as an aging movie star who temporarily steals Alana away so he can recreate his most famous stunt.  Then there’s Bradley Cooper who blows everybody out of the water with his manic turn as producer Jon Peters.  The sequence where Hoffman and company play cat and mouse with him echoes the finale of Anderson’s Boogie Nights a little bit and is one of the best scenes he’s ever put on film.  It’s a shame the rest of the flick lacks the pizazz of this sequence, as most of the time, it meanders perhaps a bit too much.

While Licorice Pizza may be a lesser PTA flick, it’s still a PTA flick, and because of that, it’s still worth checking out.