Licorice Pizza (2022)
Licorice Pizza
- 3.5/5 Cameras
- Written and directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
- Starring: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper, at el
- Where to find it: In cinemas now
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| No Copyright Infringement Intended |
I was excited going into Licorice Pizza. The trailer had
given promise to something joyful and fun, and with a masterful writer/director
like Paul Thomas Anderson and a cast with some fresh faces for its leads (Alana
Haim and Cooper Hoffman) but with big names in support (Sean Penn, Bradley
Cooper and more) I thought I was set for a wonderful experience in the cinema.
For the most part, this came true yet walking out I couldn’t help but feel some
disappointment and annoyance.
Licorice Pizza follows Gary (Cooper Hoffman), a
fifteen-year-old in LA coming to the end of his career as a child actor looking
for a new angle for his life. He meets Alana (Alana Haim), a
twenty-five-year-old photography assistant while her company is doing his
school’s photoshoot, and is instantly smitten, thus asking her to go out for a
meal with him at a restaurant he frequents. While initially reluctant Alana
ultimately goes to meet him and the two quickly strike up a friendship. From
here the film takes place almost as a series of vignettes, covering
approximately a year of their lives as they attempt to break into acting, the
waterbed market, politics, pinball, and more, all the while dealing with
complex emotions and a wide variety of challenges.
The two stars, Alana Haim (of the band Haim, the rest of
whom also appear playing her sisters alongside their father) and Cooper Hoffman
(son of Philip Seymour Hoffman) are both in their first film role but watching
the film you’d assume they’d done this for years with both putting in
exceptional, well-nuanced performances. Gary is confident, a hustler with
seemingly limitless self-belief and a desire to prove himself as a grown-up
success, yet there’s always an element of vulnerability to his character, not
to mention some youthful ignorance. Alana on the other hand is more
pessimistic, trapped living at home with her parents looking for a way out, or
at least some excitement. They are truly captivating, and I look forward to the
two of them taking on other roles. The supporting cast are all good fun,
Bradley Cooper as Jon Peters, real-life celebrity hairdresser, and former
partner of Barbra Streisand being a particularly amusing side role.
The pacing in Licorice Pizza is kept leisurely, but it moves
continuously. The whole film carries a very relaxed tone, feeling naturalistic
despite moving through some fairly outlandish events. It all feels very
personal, like reading the highlights of someone’s diary. The relationship
between Alana and Gary is the main crutch of the film and for the most part, it
develops wonderfully. It’s so natural and honest feeling despite humble
beginnings as the fantasy of a horny fifteen-year-old.
After all my gushing over how amazing this film is, I
suppose you’re wondering why I’ve not given it a perfect score. To put it
bluntly, I hated the ending. I don’t want to go into much detail because I
don’t want to spoil it, and I’m sure some people will appreciate it, but it did
not work at all for me. Genuinely, if the film had finished two minutes before
it did, I’d have walked away loving it, but as it is, I don’t feel I can go any
further than saying I liked it. So yes, you should watch Licorice Pizza, but if
you skip the last couple of minutes, I wouldn’t judge you.
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