Normally, when I refer to a film as being rambling or meandering, it would be a negative thing, yet both apply to Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2021 feature film, Licorice Pizza, and neither is a detriment to what he is doing here. This is a film that defies a conventional plot summary while at the same time is all about the characters, their relationships to each other and everyone else, and how all that ties into the setting of the 1970s in the valley. Paul is falling back on his own childhood and clearly remembers what it was like during this period. That makes for a film that feels less scripted and more of the moment, a feat that many of his contemporaries have not been able to accomplish.
This is not his first foray into this time period, either. He masterfully depicted it in his second feature film, Boogie Nights, a movie about the seedy side of the 1970s porn industry. He has carved a niche out for himself as a director of films that not only attract a loyal following but also get critics and film connoisseurs to stand up and take notice. While not all of his films are bullseyes, all of them are well worth tracking down; there is always something worth taking notice of in his oeuvre. Looking back on that list, it is a crime that it took until 2026 for him to finally take home Oscars for directing and Best Picture. That win would be for One Battle After Another, his third film in a row to be nominated for that honor. Like Alexander Payne, his films are often critically lauded but always seemed to come up just short of the final prize.
Licorice Pizza introduced us to two new acting talents, both of whom deserve all the accolades they got for this project. The first is Cooper Hoffman, the son of the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman. While there is little of his father’s physicality in Cooper, he has that charisma and confidence that comes from someone who knows they are talented, just like his father did. Cooper has a natural aura about him that fits in perfectly in the 1970s setting. He would channel that again in Saturday Night, a film about the chaotic first episode of Saturday Night Live. That would be followed up with the harrowing The Long Walk, a Stephen King post-apocalypse thriller that, while not set in the 1970s, was written in that decade and feels very much like it. He’s at home in this kind of environment and is well on his way to being a big star in his own right.
Alana Haim comes from a different background altogether. She came from the music scene playing guitar and keyboards alongside her two sisters in the rock band HAIM. It was here that she was first introduced to Paul Thomas Anderson when he was commissioned to direct some of their music videos. He saw something in her during those sessions and cast her in Licorice Pizza. Like Cooper, she fits in perfectly into the setting of 1970s Southern California. This is enhanced by Paul’s choice to forgo the usual use of makeup and keep her, and Cooper, too, looking like someone you could see just walking down the street on any given day.
The film revolves around their unconventional relationship, something that begins on a typical day in school: picture day. We all remember our parents dolling us up for those ever-important days, dressing us up and doing our hair so that we could get our photos taken for a small fortune. Our introduction to Gary Valentine (Cooper) is through a high school bathroom mirror as he puts the finishing touches on his hair just as some joker flushes a cherry bomb down the toilet. It sets the tone of this picture and gives us our first inkling of just what kind of person Gary is.
Alana Kane (Alana Haim) is, by her account, 25 years old, though she may be a few years older than that. She is working as a photographer’s assistant at the high school when Gary first sees her. Drawn to her, he asks her out to dinner, which puts her off, but she shows up anyway. This begins an interesting relationship that dangles close to being romantic but doesn’t quite cross that line all the way. Gary is just 15 at the start of this film and, while the timeline is murky, we don’t get the sense that a lot of years go by over the course of the story.
Gary may be just 15, but the film doesn’t treat him as such. He is a child actor who has been working for a while, which may be the way he is able to afford or secure loans to pay for his business ventures. The film is deliberately vague on that account, too, leaving the details for us to fill in so that we can more focus on the mood and the characters. When he is discussing business with adults, he is not treated like a 15-year-old but more like one of their peers. It therefore becomes easier to accept the relationship between him and Alana than it would if we were constantly aware of his age.
Also helping that is that at no point in the film does that relationship get physical. We are not watching a film about statutory rape here, though a reading into that could be made. They become more than just friends but, at least by the end of the film, are not lovers. What is surprising, though, is that this turns out to be Alana’s film, not Gary’s despite the way the film begins. There are a few scenes that are told from his perspective but by-and-large this film follows hers.
This is also not a film strictly about her relationship with Gary, either, at least not the romantic side of it. Shortly after they meet, she begins dating a fellow actor, seeing this as an opportunity to break away from her listless life, still living with her parents and siblings. This relationship ends abruptly though when this man, Lance (Skyler Gisondo), tactlessly refuses to lead a prayer during Shabbat dinner with her Jewish family because he is an atheist.
Gary is also a bit listless, though he is more of a hustler. He sees opportunities to get in on the next hot thing in the valley and finds ways to do it. This leads to starting up a waterbed business and then later a pinball arcade. As mentioned above, how he secures finances for this is left a bit vague but it is obvious that he is not particularly wealthy.
Paul Thomas Anderson, as is usually the case, has filled this film with a combination of famous faces and the faces of those related to fame but are not that well known at the moment. This includes Destry Allyn Spielberg, the daughter of Steven Spielberg, the aforementioned Cooper Hoffman, and even Alana Haim’s two sisters and parents. Bradley Cooper appears as celebrity hairstylist Jon Peters, portraying the man in a way that could be seen as exaggerated except the real Jon Peters endorsed the performance and said that in some ways it didn’t go far enough. Sean Penn is also there as a William Holden type actor, giving a performance unlike the way we usually see him.
Lastly, Benny Safdie makes an appearance as a politician running for mayor of Los Angeles. This part of the movie takes a turn that was totally unexpected and culminates in the most heart-breaking moment of the entire picture, especially because it has a twist to it that you don’t see coming. I won’t spoil it here, but Paul Thomas Anderson manages to catch you off guard while at the same time not cheating with the reveal.
The story, though, is in service of a quasi-nostalgia for the seventies. Yet it doesn’t wallow in that but instead allows it to be firmly in the background while serving as a rich tapestry for the drama. A good example of this is the energy crisis and the gasoline shortage. This plays out mostly in the background, where we get moments like Gary running down the street, and in the background, we can see cars lined up at the gas station and signs indicating that there is no more gasoline to be had. It will play an important part in a single moment in the plot but is mostly just window dressing to set the tone of the era.
Licorice Pizza is a film that couldn’t really be set in any other decade. This was a time of shifting values and uncertainty. Paul Thomas Anderson has taken that mentality and crafted an episodic film with the through-line of Gary and Alana’s awkward relationship. It is a real showcase for these two newbies who have a charisma that shouldn’t work, yet it does. It’s one of Anderson’s most unique and personal films and really feels like it could have been made in the 1970s. This is an era that Anderson clearly remembers from his own childhood and not just in the visuals. The emotional upheaval of this time in the world and of a person finding themselves during this era feels genuine and authentic. A lot of that is Cooper and Alana, but it is supplemented by a director who knows how to get that authenticity out of them and translate that to the screen.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Sara Murphy, Adam Somner, and Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Original Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson
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Release Date: November 26, 2021
Running Time: 133 minutes
Rated R
Starring: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, and Benny Safdie
Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
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