---
title: "Inherent Vice"
year: 2014
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/inherent-vice"
fi1m_id: "inherent-vice"
imdb_id: "tt1791528"
tmdb_id: 171274
wikidata_id: "Q13806537"
fi1m_score: 78
critics_score: 75
critics_reviews: 31
published: "2026-10-03T21:26:11.310640+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-03T21:26:16.121606+00:00"
region: "MY"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Inherent Vice (2014)

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson · 2h 29m · Drama, Mystery, Comedy

## Identity

Inherent Vice

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/inherent-vice
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** inherent-vice
- **IMDb ID:** tt1791528
- **TMDB ID:** 171274
- **Wikidata ID:** Q13806537
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1791528/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/171274, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q13806537

**Fi1m score: 78** · Critics 75 from 31 reviews

*In a sentence:* A private eye who writes ‘paranoia alert’ in his notebook and turns out, each time, to be right

> Paul Thomas Anderson’s Thomas Pynchon adaptation is a stoned private-eye film that refuses to add up, and after an hour we stopped asking it to. Joaquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin are funny, Robert Elswit’s light is lovely, and the plot is lost on purpose. Bring patience.

## Synopsis

Gordita Beach, Los Angeles, 1970. Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) is a private investigator who works out of a doctor’s surgery and smokes through most of his cases. One night his ex, Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston), turns up with a job: her new lover, the property developer Mickey Wolfmann, is about to be committed by his wife and her boyfriend, and she wants Doc to stop it. Within a day Doc has been knocked cold at a massage parlour and woken beside a corpse with Lt. Det. “Bigfoot” Bjornsen (Josh Brolin), a flat-topped policeman who hates hippies, standing over him, and Hope Harlingen (Jena Malone) has asked him to find her husband Coy (Owen Wilson), a saxophonist everyone says is dead. Then Wolfmann disappears, and so does Shasta. Sortilège (Joanna Newsom) narrates.

## Review

It is 1970 in Gordita Beach, on the Los Angeles coast, and Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) is a private investigator with a brass plate on the door saying he is a doctor. His ex, Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston), turns up and asks a favour: her new lover, a property developer, is about to be put away by his wife. Within a day Doc has a lump on his head and a dead man beside him, and Paul Thomas Anderson, adapting Thomas Pynchon’s novel, has made it plain he will not help us keep count. We gave up at around the hour mark and we think the film is good: worth an evening if you can treat 149 minutes of not knowing what is going on as weather rather than fault.

Anderson is working the line of Robert Altman’s [*The Long Goodbye*](https://film.one/film/the-long-goodbye): the private eye as the last man in town who thinks somebody owes somebody an explanation. Doc is kind, slow and usually right, and Phoenix plays him as a man whose face reaches a thought a beat after the rest of him. He writes “paranoia alert” in his notebook, and “not hallucinating”. It is a quieter performance than the sideburns suggest.

Josh Brolin’s Bigfoot Bjornsen, a flat-topped detective who kicks in Doc’s door and moonlights in television adverts, is the best thing in it. Brolin plays him as a man made of grievances: against hippies, against his own department, against the pancakes he orders by shouting in Japanese. We laughed harder at him eating a chocolate-covered frozen banana than at anything in a comedy in months. He and Doc are the film’s one steady relationship. They despise each other and keep turning up.

Robert Elswit’s images look sun-faded, like a photograph left on a dashboard. The light comes in low and gold through blinds and smog, and conversations are held in long takes that creep slowly towards the faces. David Crank’s rooms are particular: Doc’s beach shack, a massage parlour with lunch specials, an office tower shaped like a fang. Mark Bridges keeps Doc in sandals and corduroy and Bigfoot in a suit a size too small.

Jonny Greenwood’s score is mostly strings, slow and slightly seasick, and it leaves room for records. Joanna Newsom, as Sortilège, narrates in Pynchon’s own sentences, and her high, unbothered voice is the nearest thing the film has to a map. Leslie Jones cuts without the usual detective-film courtesies. Scenes end when the people in them stop talking, not when the plot has been served, which is why the film is confusing and why it feels like a place rather than a story.

The scene that got us is a memory. Doc and Shasta run through a downpour to an address a Ouija board has given them, and stand in the rain laughing. Elswit shoots it from across the street in grey light, Neil Young sings on the soundtrack, and nothing happens. It moved us more than anything in the plot, because for a minute the film stops being about who is working for whom and becomes about a man who misses a woman and knows that year has gone.

What does not work is the pile-up. Owen Wilson’s Coy Harlingen, a saxophonist everyone says is dead; Benicio del Toro’s maritime lawyer Sauncho Smilax; Reese Witherspoon’s Deputy D.A. Penny Kimball; Hong Chau’s Jade. All of them are good and most are gone before you have placed them. In the second hour we were bored, then irritated, less by the confusion than by the feeling that Anderson had decided confusion was the point and could coast on it. Waterston gets one long late scene we will not describe that is the frankest thing Anderson has filmed, and some viewers will lose patience there.

Set against [*There Will Be Blood*](https://film.one/film/there-will-be-blood) or [*The Master*](https://film.one/film/the-master) it is a smaller thing, and knows it, closer to a long afternoon with a book Anderson loves and does not want to finish. Watch it at home with the subtitles on. A third of the plot is in mumbled asides, and you will want to go back for the pancakes.

*Fi1m score 78, published 3 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics like Inherent Vice. The reviews lean clearly positive, with a handful of top marks and only three outright dismissals. Praise clusters on the performances: Joaquin Phoenix’s dazed, off-balance Doc is singled out again and again, and Josh Brolin’s Bigfoot nearly as often. Jonny Greenwood’s score and the period detail of late-1960s Los Angeles come up repeatedly, as does Anderson’s loose, comic handling of a plot that never quite comes together.

The reservations are about that plot, and nearly everyone has them. Even the warmest reviews concede the mystery is hard to follow and does not resolve; the difference is whether critics treat the haze as the point or as a failing. The spread is wide, from full marks to the low thirties. The Hollywood Reporter is the notable dissenter on Phoenix, finding him short on comic lightness where others find him the film’s chief pleasure, and The Wrap calls the whole thing detached and self-indulgent.

## Straight answers

**Is Inherent Vice worth watching?**

*Inherent Vice* is worth watching if you can sit through 149 minutes of not knowing what is going on, and we scored it 78. Joaquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin are funny, Robert Elswit's sun-faded light is lovely, and the plot is lost on purpose. We were bored and then irritated in the second hour, so bring patience.

**How long is Inherent Vice, and what is it rated?**

*Inherent Vice* runs 2h 29m. It is a drama and mystery film.

**Where can I watch Inherent Vice in Malaysia?**

*Inherent Vice* is not on any streaming or rental service in Malaysia at the moment. It is available in 24 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Inherent Vice, and is it suitable for children?**

*Inherent Vice* is a UK 15 and US R, a stoned private-eye comedy with a corpse, a beating or two, constant drug use and one long, frank late scene between Doc and Shasta that some viewers will find too much. It is not frightening, but it is not for children, and the mumbled, tangled plot would lose them anyway.

**How does Inherent Vice compare to The Long Goodbye?**

*Inherent Vice* is Paul Thomas Anderson working the line of [*The Long Goodbye*](https://film.one/film/the-long-goodbye), with a stoned private eye wandering the same Los Angeles forty years later and understanding even less. Altman's film is the tighter of the two and the better place to start; Anderson's is longer, funnier in Josh Brolin's scenes, and more willing to let the mystery dissolve entirely.

**Is Inherent Vice based on a true story or a book?**

*Inherent Vice* is based on Thomas Pynchon's novel of the same name, not on a true story. Anderson keeps Pynchon's sentences, with Joanna Newsom narrating in the author's own words, and the plot is as tangled as the book's. You do not need to have read it, but knowing it is meant to confuse helps.

**What should I watch after Inherent Vice?**

After *Inherent Vice*, try [*The Long Goodbye*](https://film.one/film/the-long-goodbye) (1973, Fi1m 86): Altman’s Marlowe, equally baffled, wandering the same city forty years earlier. Then [*The Big Lebowski*](https://film.one/film/the-big-lebowski) (1998, Fi1m 85): Another Los Angeles stoner dragged into a rich man’s mess; shorter and warmer; and [*Alphaville*](https://film.one/film/alphaville) (1965, Fi1m 78): Godard’s detective in a city run on logic; the opposite problem, same fog.

### Reviews we read (31)

- **Slant Magazine**, Chris Cabin (4/4): Cabin views the film as a lively, politically suggestive comedy about unreliable memories and the fading promise of the 1960s. He praises Anderson’s inventive direction and the actors’ playful, expressive performances. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/inherent-vice/)
- **The AV Club**, Ben Kenigsberg (A): Kenigsberg finds the film a remarkably faithful and entertaining adaptation, praising Anderson’s deft handling of comedy and actors. He singles out the closing shot as pure bliss, while noting that some of Pynchon’s literary flourishes are missed. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/p-t-anderson-goes-back-to-the-70s-and-noir-themes-wit-1798182170)
- **The Guardian**, Xan Brooks (90/100, inferred): Brooks calls it a ramshackle triumph, praising its wild, funny journey through a disorienting late-1960s California. He singles out Anderson’s jubilant, freewheeling handling of the chaotic story. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/05/inherent-vice-review-joaquin-phoenix-paul-thomas-anderson)
- **Evening Standard**, David Sexton (85/100, inferred): Sexton finds the film challenging but increasingly rewarding, and recommends embracing its haze rather than demanding an immediately clear plot. He especially praises Joaquin Phoenix’s funny, gloriously good performance as Doc. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/inherent-vice-film-review-joaquin-phoenix-is-gloriously-good-10012700.html)
- **Screen Daily**, Graham Fuller (85/100, inferred): Fuller presents Anderson’s film as a dynamic, sophisticated powerhouse, giving it a strongly positive verdict. The accessible text singles out its dynamism and sophistication as its chief strengths. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/inherent-vice/5078287.article)
- **Variety**, Scott Foundas (85/100, inferred): Foundas finds the film a richly funny, delightful stoner noir whose unusual, sprawling approach will not suit every viewer. He especially praises Josh Brolin’s wryly comic portrayal of the contradictory detective Bigfoot. [Read](https://variety.com/2014/film/festivals/film-review-inherent-vice-1201319339/)
- **IndieWire**, Eric Kohn (B+): Kohn finds the adaptation muddled but endearing, with imperfections that deepen its appeal. He especially praises Joaquin Phoenix’s bewildered performance and Johnny Greenwood’s meandering score for capturing Doc’s fractured perspective. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-paul-thomas-andersons-inherent-vice-is-a-faithful-and-endearing-thomas-pynchon-adaptation-69388/)
- **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (5/4/5): Jenkins finds the film buoyant and moving, though less wildly digressive than the novel. He praises its strange, layered love stories against a backdrop of political unease. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/inherent-vice)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Betsy Sharkey (80/100, inferred): Sharkey finds the film funny, loose and accessible, with a lively adaptation of Pynchon’s intricate satire. She especially praises Joaquin Phoenix’s performance, which keeps Doc Sportello engagingly dazed and off balance. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-inherent-vice-review-20141212-column.html)
- **Radio Times**, Andrew Collins (4/5): The critic presents the film as a gloriously rambling detective yarn that should delight fans of New Hollywood and Thomas Pynchon. The review singles out Joaquin Phoenix’s performance and the lovingly recreated period look for praise. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-iqtok7/inherent-vice/)
- **Time Out**, Joshua Rothkopf (4/5): The printed four-star rating signals a positive verdict. The review text is unavailable, so no specific praise or complaint can be identified. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/inherent-vice)
- **Total Film**, James Mottram (4/5): Mottram finds the film a poignant, entertaining love letter to Los Angeles and the 1970s, despite its occasional meandering. He praises its superb period detail and Jonny Greenwood’s persuasive score. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/inherent-vice-review/)
- **Empire**, Ian Nathan (70/100, inferred): Nathan finds the film chaotic and difficult to follow but ultimately beautiful, haunting and singular. He praises its playful noir style, vivid comic invention and beguiling language. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/inherent-vice-review/)
- **Sight and Sound**, Nick Pinkerton (70/100, inferred): Pinkerton is more taken with this film than with any of Anderson’s work since Boogie Nights, though he notes its sprawling, anecdote-heavy approach may frustrate many viewers. He particularly praises the vivid supporting characters and the poignant memory of Doc walking with Shasta to Neil Young’s music. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-inherent-vice)
- **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (70/100, inferred): Lane finds the adaptation both impressive and exasperating, praising Anderson for doing Pynchon proud while noting the mystery’s resistance to tidy resolution. He singles out Josh Brolin’s energetic comic performance as Bigfoot, though he wishes Anderson would sometimes escape the orbit of the novel and follow his own vision. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/15/swinging-seventies-3)
- **Vulture**, David Edelstein (70/100, inferred): Edelstein finds the film groovy, funny, and strange, though its mystery is incoherent and its filmmaking occasionally cold. He especially praises Joaquin Phoenix’s brilliant, witty, emotionally true performance. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2014/12/movie-review-inherent-vice.html)
- **RogerEbert.com** (64/100, inferred): The page is blocked, so the critic’s verdict cannot be determined. No specific praise or complaint can be verified from the available text. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/festivals/nyff-2014-paul-thomas-andersons-inherent-vice)
- **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The page identifies a review of Paul Thomas Anderson’s *Inherent Vice*, but its text is unavailable. The critic’s verdict and any specific praise or complaint cannot be verified. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/movies/inherent-vice-directed-by-paul-thomas-anderson.html)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Todd McCarthy (40/100, inferred): McCarthy finds the adaptation uneven, with its sprawling mystery only intermittently achieving the novel’s comic energy. He praises the performances of Josh Brolin and Owen Wilson, but faults the film for its narrow portrayal of Los Angeles and Joaquin Phoenix’s limited comic lightness. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/inherent-vice-film-review-738136/)
- **The Skinny**, Philip Concannon (★★★★★): Concannon praises the film as an entrancing, richly layered expression of Anderson’s singular vision. He singles out its comic performances, hazy cinematography, narration, and wounded romantic heart. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/inherent-vice)
- **Consequence**, Dominick Suzanne-Mayer (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the film as a madcap masterwork, rich with comedy and pathos. They single out its wistful emotional depth beneath the surreal humor and excellent performances. [Read](https://consequence.net/2014/12/film-review-inherent-vice/)
- **/Film**, Germain Lussier (9/10): Lussier finds the film hilarious, quirky, and incredibly entertaining, though its unusual structure may divide viewers. He praises the stellar cast, especially Joaquin Phoenix, and notes that Anderson’s directorial style feels more muted than usual. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/534800/inherent-vice-movie-review/)
- **Den of Geek**, David Crow (4/5): Crow finds the film an intoxicating, affectionate portrait of a fading counterculture, despite its dense plotting and laid-back pace. He especially praises Joaquin Phoenix’s performance and the colorful ensemble of characters. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/inherent-vice-review/)
- **HeyUGuys**, Adam Lowes (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film dense and sprawling but ultimately easy to fall for. They praise Anderson’s craftsmanship and faithfulness to Pynchon, along with Joaquin Phoenix’s performance. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/inherent-vice-review/)
- **Paste**, Jeremy Matthews (8.7): Matthews finds the film a compelling, mournful, madcap odyssey whose deliberate confusion can sometimes feel aimless. He praises the grounding dynamic between Joaquin Phoenix’s Doc and Josh Brolin’s Bigfoot. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/inherent-vice/inherent-vice)
- **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (65/100, inferred): The page identifies this as Pete Hammond’s review, but the review itself is only referenced as a video. The available text offers no verdict or specific praise or complaint. [Read](https://deadline.com/2014/12/inherent-vice-review-joaquin-phoenix-owen-wilson-pete-hammond-video-1201322667/)
- **Eye for Film**, Owen Van Spall (65/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a unique, sprawling ride, though it is inaccessible and not Anderson’s funniest. He praises its colorful cameos, visual period detail, and dreamy atmosphere. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/inherent-vice-2014-film-review-by-owen-van-spall)
- **The Playlist** (64/100, inferred): The article is identified as a New York Film Festival review of the film, but its verdict cannot be recovered from the supplied page. No specific praise or complaint is visible because the page contains only anti-crawler text. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/nyff-review-paul-thomas-andersons-inherent-vice-starring-joaquin-phoenix-josh-brolin-owen-wilson-more-20141004/)
- **Collider**, Perri Nemiroff (C): Nemiroff finds the film exhausting and disappointing, with an overcomplicated mystery that never pays off. She praises its visuals, production and costume design, and score. [Read](https://collider.com/inherent-vice-review/)
- **NME** (35/100, inferred): The critic finds the film confusing and less enjoyable than it aims to be. They praise its dreamy look and sound, and Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as Doc. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-various-artists-15889-319588)
- **The Wrap** (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the film detached and self-indulgent, with cartoonish characters that fail to engage. They praise a rain-soaked flashback sequence for conveying loss more effectively than the dialogue. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/inherent-vice-review-lots-of-sex-and-drugs-but-where-are-the-believable-people/)

## Details

- **Director:** Paul Thomas Anderson
- **Director:** Paul Thomas Anderson
- **Writer:** Paul Thomas Anderson
- **Novel:** Thomas Pynchon
- **Cinematography:** Robert Elswit
- **Editor:** Leslie Jones
- **Music:** Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood
- **Production design:** David Crank
- **Costume design:** Mark Bridges
- **Producer:** Paul Thomas Anderson, Daniel Lupi, JoAnne Sellar
- **Cast:** Joaquin Phoenix as Larry "Doc" Sportello; Josh Brolin as Lt. Det. Christian F. "Bigfoot" Bjornsen; Owen Wilson as Coy Harlingen; Katherine Waterston as Shasta Fay Hepworth; Reese Witherspoon as Deputy D.A. Penny Kimball; Benicio del Toro as Sauncho Smilax, Esq.; Jena Malone as Hope Harlingen; Joanna Newsom as Sortilège, who is also the narrator
- **Runtime:** 2h 29m
- **First release (the US):** 4 October 2014
- **Genres:** Drama, Mystery, Comedy
- **Budget:** $20 million
- **Box office:** $15 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTRMkQzFYHI

## Where to watch in Malaysia

Not streaming, renting or buying in Malaysia at the last check.

Also available in: AT, AU, BE, BG, CA, CO, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FR, GB, IE, IT, JP, LT, NL, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RS, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 2015: Best Costume Design (nominated); Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *The Long Goodbye* (1973), Fi1m 86: Altman’s Marlowe, equally baffled, wandering the same city forty years earlier. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-long-goodbye.md)
- *The Big Lebowski* (1998), Fi1m 85: Another Los Angeles stoner dragged into a rich man’s mess; shorter and warmer. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-big-lebowski.md)
- *Night Moves* (1975): Arthur Penn’s private eye solves the case and understands none of it.
- *Under the Silver Lake* (2018): The paranoid Los Angeles ramble done again, nastier, with even less plot.
- *Alphaville* (1965), Fi1m 78: Godard’s detective in a city run on logic; the opposite problem, same fog. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/alphaville.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/inherent-vice