If I'm going fawn over a puzzling film, I'd rather it be something like Inception or The Matrix, movies that entertain me but also provoke so much thought and analysis that I can't take my mind off it.

If the adaptation's a little too faithful to sustain a cinematically tight story, there's still a lot to admire in the sheer, uninhibited folly of the whole thing, the gall to get groovy while the Oscar-watchers are on high alert.

After a decade spent making two films that are like pressure cookers, Anderson was clearly ready to blow off some steam.

Inherent Vice feels bogged down by its period. Anderson has found nothing new to say about the 1970s and that’s why it feels so clichéd.