In Retrospect: Licorice Pizza

Okay, I was on some mad drugs for not giving this an 10/10.

God dang, it's a good day and I just saw a wonderful wonderful movie again. I was waiting for this movie to hit video like you wouldn't believe and needless to say I fell in love all over again. The brief reputation this movie has on this show is remarkable in and of itself, making the #2 spot on my top 10 list of last year before I even got the damn review out, I still have no idea why I gave it a 9/10, and it easily goes up to the top in the romance genre for me. I'm just gonna say it, Cooper Hoffman is the best male lead in a romance movie I have ever seen in my life. This smooth motherf***er charmed the pants off of me within minutes of screentime, fricking Gary Valentine sweet lord that man isn't even human. If I had an ounce of his charisma and personality the world would be mine before the month is out, you want to talk about some alpha male goals? Motherf***ing Gary Valentine. And the strange part is I heard some people bad mouth Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman, saying they looked too plain or "unattractive", yeah because every movie has to have the most positively shocking gorgeous human specimens on the planet. I kinda though that was the point, it is just a strange little average romance with average people, but Alana is very beautiful and Cooper is just a dashing devil. I know without question this is not a movie for everyone, I can practically hear the naysayers off in the distance behind the hills saying nothing happens in this movie and it's all just odd for odd's sake. If you let yourself be swept away in this story, you can have a great time. I'm sure it can be looked at with a flowery critical and intellectual eye and still can have something to say, I may be treading over holy ground when I say this but it reminds me a bit of The Graduate and can be remembered just as strongly I feel. Big words I know, but I as always mean what I say. I got so super invested I thought near the end of the movie they were going to drop a safe on my head and end it really depressingly. If you've seen the movie you know of the character I speak of, and I was just like, you sons of bitches if you screw with me and take this away from me I will take a crowbar to this movie's head for 20 minutes straight. Which if anything goes to show how much I treasured the love story and these characters. It still continued to make me bust with laughter very often, partly because of the script and partly because of the performances. I nearly fell out of my chair laughing when Gary got slapped, it's just highly difficult not to enjoy yourself here. I could spend all night praising this movie but I think you get the point, it's a truly special and lovely film that no doubt will have my heart for a long time. 4 stars, 12/10! I regret nothing. See you next week for some high flying action.

Licorice Pizza

I always save the best for last, and I totally did not mean to forget to post it yesterday.

You know my stance on romance movies, so the fact I'm reviewing this alone should be reason enough to hunt this movie down and watch it. Once more we look at a facet of the complex, shining, crazy diamond that is relationships as we meet Gary and Alana and this is where it becomes complicated to talk about this movie. Because I have so much I could say and yet don't want to say anything, because the way their relationship forms is so endearing, simple yet strange, and absolutely real. Cause Gary, my f***ing man, is the smoothest bastard I've seen in my life. He hits on her out of the blue one day and she inexplicably against her own protests goes to meet him for a Coca-Cola, and it's this real tightrope situation where they are undoubtedly best friends but a lot of people flat out ask them, hey are you guys a thing now, and they genuinely say yes and no. At first I thought it was a modern story but it actually takes place during the early 70s, the clothes, the appliances, the world events, and it works surprisingly well for the story plus I'm a sucker to see that decade. I love our leads, Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman are honestly a bit too good. I can't say one bad thing about them, they play it so well and with an abundance of sincerity. You buy the romance, they do things just to spite one another, they do have conflicting emotions, they can be quite weird. That's kids man. That is romance at a young age where they have nothing to compare it to, they're just trying to figure it out. I think movies like this will stand the test of time far more than your regular love story fare. But it's damn funny too, I was probably the only person in that theater laughing consistently, honestly even to the point where I thought I was laughing too loud that I was disturbing the viewing for everyone else. It's a bizarre but highly effective use of comedy and one that hit my buttons just right. I haven't seen many Paul Thomas Anderson movies, only Boogie Nights before this but I sure noticed he loves him some long takes, moving long takes at that which worked wonderfully. The camera moves frequently and scenes take their time which I appreciate. They don't need to rush, they just ride this weird torpedo to the end, and it immerses you in the time period and more importantly the relationship. It is worth every second. I quite loved this movie and do urge people to see it when you can. I give it 4 stars, 9/10, a surprise to be sure but a welcome one.