Jason Watches INHERENT VICE

In THE MASTER, P.T. Anderson had Joaquin Phoenix drink anything. Literally anything--bomb fuel, photographic solutions, etc. In INHERENT VICE, Anderson has Phoenix constantly smoking pot and (knowingly or unknowingly) doing all kinds of other drugs. I have to assume they'll team up again, and I can't wait to see how Anderson makes Phoenix abuse himself next time.

As for the plot--wow, that was wild and I'll have to watch it again to have any hopes of being able to summarize anything coherently. Anderson creates an impressive tableau of 70s L.A. doper subculture, with private investigator Doc Sportello (Phoenix) investigating the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend (whom he never really got over.) And then into the vortex of Doc comes an abusive cop (Josh Brolin, fantastic as always) a missing musician who faked his own death (Owen Wilson) a shady organization called the Golden Fang that seems to have it's teeth (literally) in everything from Chinese heroin to psychiatric treatment facilities to dentistry. Oh yeah, Martin Short shows up as a crazy dentist who is on drugs and hooking his patients on drugs. And it's the kind of crazy movie where Short may as well be the straight man in his scenes (he's not, but he's no crazier than any other character in the movie.) It's a hell of a ride, with a hell of a cast, in a hell of a world.

Running Time: 148 minutes
My Total Minutes: 379,055