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Licorice Pizza is the latest film by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film is set in the 1970's in Southern California, and is about a 15 year old Actor/Entrepreneur named Gary Valentine (played by Cooper Hoffman), who falls in love with his 25 year old School Photographer named Alana Kane (played Alana Haim) The film also co-stars Sean Penn, Tom Waits and Bradley Cooper.
Truthfully I've never been a very big Paul Thomas Anderson fan. His film have always been a bit hit-or-miss for me. However I really enjoyed this one. It is a hard film to describe as there really isn't a big plot other than it being basically an inappropriate love story about a 15 year old boy and a 25 year old woman. The film is mostly a comedy and has some of the funniest cameo appearances I've ever seen. The film mostly is just about Gary Valentine being a smart business person and always bringing Alana along for the ride for whatever plan he comes up with, including starting a water bed business or even a Pinball Arcade; all while trying to impress Alana in order to get her to fall for him.
Even though this is a film about a situation that most would describe as immoral and illegal; I found the film as a whole to be very innocent. There isn't any sex or sexual relationships between the two of them and the story is mostly fun, funny and light. My favorite scenes of the film are two separate scenes that involve Bradley Copper and Sean Penn however. This was a great film in my opinion an is one of my favorite films of 2021!