Licorice Pizza
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring Cooper Hoffman, Alana Haim, Maya Rudolph, John C. Reilly
Release Date December 25th, 2021
Licorice Pizza stars Cooper Hoffman as Gary Valentine, an enterprising 16 year old with a restless mind. Gary is on angle in every moment of his life having broken into Hollywood as a child actor and parlayed that into other enterprises. As Licorice Pizza plays out we watch Gary find opportunities at every turn due to his immense charisma and curiosity. It’s Gary’s fearless, self promoting confidence, that catches the attention of Alana while she’s working as an assistant to a photographer for Gary’s school pictures.
The fact that Alana is clearly an adult and Gary is not does not slow Gary down for a moment. What some people see as an obstacle, Gary sees as an opportunity others aren’t taking advantage of. That’s not to say that Gary is intending to take advantage of Alana, with her worldly qualities and her own strong sense of self, Alana is not one who could be taken advantage of. No, rather, Gary and Alana’s mutual admiration for each other seems to stem from game recognizing game. Certainly, for Alana, there is great entertainment in watching Gary work his game so hard.
Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here.
