Inherent Vice is a American period neo-noir mystery stoner comedy film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson , based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon. The film follows Larry "Doc" Sportello, a well-intentioned but fumbling stoner , hippie , and private investigator embroiled in the criminal underworld of Los Angeles, investigating three cases linked by the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend and her wealthy new boyfriend.
Anderson's adaptation of Inherent Vice had been in development since ; it is the first and so far only Pynchon novel to be adapted for the screen. It is Anderson's second collaboration with Phoenix, following The Master , and involves a number of his other recurring collaborators, including producers Daniel Lupi and JoAnne Sellar , cinematographer Robert Elswit , editor Leslie Jones , and composer Jonny Greenwood.
The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with many praising the performances, costumes, and screenplay, but some criticizing the complicated plot. The National Board of Review named it one of the ten best films of the year. Some critics said that Inherent Vice has the makings of a cult film. She tells him about her new lover, Michael Z. Doc meets with Tariq Khalil, a member of the Black Guerrilla Family , who hires him to find Glen Charlock, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood he met in jail, who owes him money and is one of Wolfmann's bodyguards.
He visits Mickey's Channel View Estates project, entering the only business in the developing strip mall, a massage parlor , where he meets an employee, Jade. He searches the premises for Charlock but is hit with a baseball bat and collapses. Doc wakes outside, lying next to Charlock's dead body and surrounded by policemen. Doc is hired by former heroin addict Hope Harlingen, who is looking for her missing husband, Coy.
Although told that Coy is dead, she believes he is alive due to a large deposit in her bank account. Jade leaves Doc a message apologizing for setting him up with the police and telling him to "beware the Golden Fang.
