First Look: ‘Inherent Vice’ Official Trailer

Paul Thomas Anderson returns to the director’s chair with Inherent Vice based on Thomas Pynchon’s novel and starring Joaquin Phoenix. Warner Bros Pictures is releasing the film in theaters on December 12, 2014 and given its director and cast (Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Katherine Waterston, and Jena Malone), this could be one of the studio’s big Oscar hopefuls.

The Plot:

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 loony 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.