A total vibe movie that you're either going to enjoy or not depending on how into that vibe you are.
Paul Thomas Anderson's latest is a nostalgic romcom of sorts about a teenager and the much older woman he wants to have a romance with in 1970s California. The film is obviously made by someone with first-hand experience of what it was like to grow up near L. A.'s entertainment industry, and the film, which is more a series of vignettes than a continuous narrative, captures the weirdness, desperation, and sometimes scariness of famous people living in a vacuum.
The film's biggest asset is Alana Haim, playing either a 25 year old or 28 year old (a blink and you'll miss it line throws some doubt on her actual age) who's oppressive Jewish household makes the antics of a child star high schooler (Cooper Hoffman, son of Phillip Seymour) at first a welcome distraction and later leads to an endearing bond between the two. The movie is winsome and enjoyable as long as it focuses on these two and their prickly relationship, but it's derailed by two lengthy segments featuring Sean Penn and Bradley Cooper that aren't as funny as Anderson seems to think they are and flab out the film's running time.
Also, much as I enjoyed the film while watching it, I couldn't shake an extreme feeling of ickiness when I started to think back on it. The age difference between Haim and Cooper is treated as mostly a non-issue within the world of the film, and their romance is served straight up -- we're obviously supposed to be rooting for them to be together. But if this were a movie about a 25 year old man romancing a 15 year old girl, it would play quite differently, and the double standard bothered me. I also felt like the script let Haim down. She's so likable and such a good actress that I was disappointed her character didn't have more growth. She's a young woman who hasn't seen much of the world but starts to thanks to Hoffman, but I wish the movie had been more about her learning that, much as she likes Hoffman as a friend, she's too old for him and has more potential than that of being his girlfriend and sidekick.
So, overall a mixed bag of a movie for me, though I was entertained watching it and would recommend it to others.
Grade: A-
