Movie Review: Licorice Pizza (2021)
How great is Paul Thomas Anderson? This fellow Gen X’er has one of the most impressive resumes in Hollywood. While I can’t say that Licorice Pizza is my favorite PTA film, it falls right in line with the rest of his other hits, well-received by both critics and audiences.
Forgive me for the slight digression, but for purely selfish reasons that aren’t directly related to the film, I was apprehensive to sit down and watch this one. This is due to the fact that it features newcomer Cooper Hoffman, son of the late, great, Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
Cooper’s dad was easily my favorite actor for nearly two decades prior to his passing, a realization I came to after seeing his deeply moving performance in Love Liza (2002). While there are certainly celebrity deaths that affect me on an emotional level (Robin Williams comes to mind), Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s death made me angry and resentful. Addiction is a lifelong struggle, one that I freely admit I cannot relate to personally. I just cannot help but feel his death was entirely preventable, and that he just should have known better than to put himself in such an ominous and risky predicament, a decision he paid the ultimate price for. So that’s why I say it’s selfish on my part. I truly loved his art, felt he was a fascinating person, and much like Robin Williams, desperately wish he were still with us. I assumed that seeing his son following in his footsteps would likely stir up a lot of those thoughts and emotions, and it certainly did, but I’m happy to report that the Hoffman legacy is in excellent hands: Cooper is a chip off the old block and did a fantastic job.
Who’s In It?
Speaking of the old block, the film also stars Hoffman’s other two children, Tallulah and Willa; Tim Conway Jr, son of legendary funny man Tim Conway; Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw’s two daughters, Sasha and Destry Allyn; Leonardo DiCaprio’s father, George; and director Jonathan Demme’s nephew, Dexter. There are also supporting performances from Sean Penn and Bradley Cooper, the latter of which provides some dry comic relief to the mix, and, at least for me, steals the show.
It did concern me that this coming of age tale encroached upon a line of morality, especially early on, that made me a bit uneasy. Luckily, at least in my opinion, it did not cross that line. As with every other Paul Thomas Anderson offering, there is excellence in film making on display, and for the age-appropriate viewer (rated R) it is a very entertaining and fresh 2 hours.
Score: 8.7/10
Starring: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, and Tom Waits
How to Watch: Rent/Buy on Amazon
By the way, I’m curious as to what Chris thought about this one. Let’s check in with him and find out! Chris? You out there? What did you think of Licorice Pizza?
Chris’ Response
That was quite the heartwarming love letter to the actors, AJ, but unfortunately you didn’t cover the two most important pieces of Licorice Pizza. First, it’s about pizza. I think. Second, you entirely skipped over the fact that there is a lot of pinball in this movie! Since pinball is, quite frankly, amazing, I’m shocked you left that out. So, although I have not yet seen the movie, I’d have to give it a perfect 10/10!
As an aside, we’re setting up a mailing list to send MovieSlap news straight news straight to your inbox, so if you’re interested, fill in the request that should’ve popped up on your screen, or make a comment on this article and check the box to sign up. We’ll only use your email address to send you MovieSlap information, and will not give it to anyone else.