Paul Thoms Anderson is arguably the only director of his generation who has not made a bad movie–yet.
To be sure, not all of his nine features are equally impressive from an artistic standpoint–some are better, more coherent, more fully realized than others.
Please find below our evaluation of his nine features, rank ordered.
Ten Films Ranked (Weakest to Strongest)
10. Hard Eight
9. Punch Drunk Love
8. Inherent Vice
7. Phantom Thread
6. Licorice Pizza
6. The Master
4. Magnolia
3. One Battle After Another
2. There Will Be Blood
1. Boogie Nights
8. Inherent Vice (2014)
Like the city of Los Angeles, with its diverse suburbs and communities, Anderson’s films are often ensembke-driven sprawling tales, and this one is particularly so.
This adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel, which was considered to be unfilmable, is chaotic and over-crowded, boasting one of the director’s largest ensembles.
A lack of clear and coherent text makes problems worse. There are too many one-joke or one-note weirdos in place of the three-dimensional eccentrics that temd to populate Anderson’s other group portraits.
In other ensemble movies, say Boogie Nights, the director succeeded in juggling dozens of characters without short-changing anyone of them–each one had his or her arch–with both bg amnd small moments.
Inspired no doubt by Altman’s 1973 The Long Goodbye and the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski, the movie centers on Joaquin Phoenix’s self-medicating “Doc,” a man who pot-smokes his way through a SoCal conspiracy, ending up bleary eyed and disoriented.
Cast
Joaquin Phoenix as Larry “Doc” Sportello
Josh Brolin as Lieutenant Christian F. “Bigfoot” Bjornsen
Owen Wilson as Coy Harlingen
Katherine Waterston as Shasta Fay Hepworth
Reese Witherspoon as Deputy District Attorney Penny Kimball
Benicio del Toro as Sauncho Smilax, Esq.
Jena Malone as Hope Harlingen
Joanna Newsom as Sortilège, who is also the narrator
Jordan Christian Hearn as Denis
Hong Chau as Jade
Jeannie Berlin as Aunt Reet
Maya Rudolph as Petunia Leeway
Michael Kenneth Williams as Tariq Khalil
Michelle Sinclair as Clancy Charlock
Martin Short as Dr. Rudy Blatnoyd, D.D.S.
Sasha Pieterse as Japonica Fenway
Martin Donovan as Crocker Fenway
Eric Roberts as Michael Z. “Mickey” Wolfmann
Jillian Bell as Chlorinda
Serena Scott Thomas as Sloane Wolfmann
Yvette Yates as Luz
Andrew Simpson as Riggs Warbling
Jefferson Mays as Dr. Threeply, Chryskylodon Institute
Keith Jardine as Puck Beaverton
Peter McRobbie as Adrian Prussia
Sam Jaeger as FBI Agent Flatweed
Timothy Simons as FBI Agent Borderline
Samantha Lemole as Golden Fang Mother
Madison Leisle as Golden Fang Daughter
Matt Doyle as Golden Fang Father
Liam Van Joosten as Golden Fang Son
