Licorice Pizza (2021) Movie Review
“I knew that was what you were thinking. You’re always thinking things, you thinker! You thinker! You think things!” This is an absurd line that could have really been awful if delivered by someone other than Alana Haim. Licorice Pizza is Haim’s first acting role but you’d never know it from her performance. She plays Alana, a twenty-five year old living in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970’s. While working for a photography company taking photos of high school students she meets Gary (Cooper Hoffman), an up and coming actor who seems well beyond his age of fifteen years. Gary likes Alana immediately and asks her on a date. She very reluctantly shows up and the two strike up an odd friendship. If you’re wondering about the totally creepy age gap, it is addressed once when Alana says she could never date him because he’s just a kid. This will be a huge turn off for some, and rightfully so. This is basically pedophilia at its finest. But this is Hollywood so you need to turn on your suspension of disbelief and roll with it.
If you can do that, then Licorice Pizza is a lot of fun. Gary has a penchant for getting into business endeavors. He’s very entrepreneurial. At one point he starts a water bed company and makes a killing. Do you see the absurdity of the plot? Alana is lost and Gary helps give her some direction. She tags along on whatever new scheme he has up his sleeve and the results are enjoyable. Licorice Pizza is basically just two kids wandering around the Valley experiencing life and falling in love. Just try not to remember one of these “kids” is twenty-five. The movie works so well because of Haim and Hoffman who have excellent chemistry together. Haim plays Alana extremely well, pulling off the “lost soul wandering aimlessly” bit handily. Hoffman’s Gary is eager to show off around Alana and dying to impress her with his wit and his business acumen. The two make a fun pair and get into some wild situations.
One such situation is when they drop off a water bed at Jon Peters’ (Bradley Cooper) house and get threatened by him if they mess up anything inside. After purposely flooding his bedroom, they have to escape via a truck that has no gas leading to a wild and tense driving scene with Aland behind the wheel careening down hills. Cooper gives a heck of a performance as Peters, perfectly capturing the intense erratic energy. There are tons of moments like these that don’t necessarily make sense as they’re connected together. Things just keep happening and Gary and Alana keep experiencing it and navigating it together. This is a fun and entertaining movie that will give you nostalgia for the 1970’s. If you can ignore the worrisome and problematic (and frankly unnecessary) age gap between Gary and Alana you will enjoy it even more.
Oh, and I should warn you there is also a very racist moment where restaurant owner Jerry Frick (John Michael Higgins) speaks in English with a heavily exaggerated cartoonish Japanese “accent.” It seems really uncalled for, not funny, and frankly offensive. Those were my two issues with an otherwise very excellent film. Paul Thomas Anderson whisks you away to the 1970’s as he tells a love story that showcases the heartbreak and wonder of first loves. But you’ll have to avoid thinking about that ten year age gap to enjoy it.
You’ll like this movie if:
1. You want to feel nostalgia for the 70’s
2. You like coming of age stories
3. You like movies that guide you through a series of experiences
