by Roger on Fri 30th Jan 2015 Watershed Bristol

Review of "Inherent Vice"

Full review

Paul Anderson shows that it is possible to film a Pynchon book - yes the characterisation is weak, the dialogue incoherent, the plot all over the place and inherently misogynistic - but that is a true reflection of any novel by Thomas Pynchon. He is one of my favourite authors and I have always thought his books were un-filmable (although I once in my youth tried to write a screenplay for The Crying of Lot 49) - but Anderson has shown that it can be done - and made a good film to boot. Shades of The Big Sleep and (obviously) The Big Lebowski. Well worth going to see (unless you are female and find male fantasies about Californian "chicks" distasteful in which case there are parts you'll hate - were there ever any girls who described themselves as "chicks"? Why did I never meet them!). PS Inherent Vice is the only Pynchon book I haven't read (yet) so I have no idea whether the film is true to the book - it is certainly true to Pynchon.