First Trailer For Paul Thomas Anderson’s INHERENT VICE Brings Some Laughs

Now I’ll grant you that writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson and actor Joaquin Phoenix are not at the top of my list when it comes to movie comedies. I’m reasonably sure that until I saw this first trailer for their upcoming collaboration Inherent Vice, they were no near even being on that list. But the two-minute tease for the upcoming film certainly shows that the two have come together for a rather quirky adaptation of the Thomas Pynchon novel that has suddenly become one of my most anticipated films of the rest of the year.

Here’s the official studio synopsis of the film –

“Inherent Vice” is the seventh feature from Paul Thomas Anderson and the first ever film adaption of a Thomas Pynchon novel. When private eye Doc Sportello’s ex-old lady suddenly out of nowhere shows up with a story about her current billionaire land developer boyfriend whom she just happens to be in love with, and a plot by his wife and her boyfriend to kidnap that billionaire and throw him in a looney bin…well, easy for her to say. It’s the tail end of the psychedelic `60s and paranoia is running the day and Doc knows that “love” is another of those words going around at the moment, like “trip” or “groovy,” that’s being way too overused – except this one usually leads to trouble. With a cast of characters that includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, LAPD Detectives, a tenor sax player working undercover, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists… Part surf noir, part psychedelic romp – all Thomas Pynchon.

The film opens in limited release on December 12.