POSITIVES
As an unconventional romance, and coming-of-age slice-of-life dramedy, set in the 1970s, this movie is like peeking into the lives of these unlikely pair of characters, and finding entertainment in watching what they do.
With plot threads involving child actors, water beds, an aging actor that does stunts on motorbikes, an unhinged rich guy during a gas shortage, to politicians and politics, there are very many noteworthily fascinating scenes and set pieces that really goes places. This film is truly like no other.
PT Anderson’s direction aside, this movie is worth checking out for the amazing work by Alana Haim as the not ashamed to speak her mind Alana Kane, and Cooper Hoffman as the charming hopeless romantic that is constantly hustling Gary Valentine. The chemistry that Haim and Hoffman have is simply fantastic.
The dialogue. The banter. The insults. The writing in this is excellent!
Has a free-wheeling go into random story beats type of narrative, with all the colorful characters that inhabit these stories, plus all the social commentaries and thematic lessons. This movie constantly makes all the attempts to keep your interest in wondering where the plot is going. For the most part, it truly succeeds at that.
NEGATIVES
A romance involving an adult and an under-age teenage boy? Yikes!
The “will they or won’t they” premise can get pretty frustrating to put up with.
Blatantly intentional Japanese racism that’s played for laughs? WTF?! What’s worse is that if PTA took it out of the movie, it wouldn't have impacted the story at all!
Has an unflattering look at show biz business types that is a little bit too on-the-nose in a rather cynical way.
At a certain point it gets easy to ask “when is this over?”
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