MovieChat Forums > Licorice Pizza (2021) Discussion > Just My Two Cents

Just My Two Cents

posted 3 years ago by Shmulpa (18)
25 replies | jump to latest

This movie's preview gave me this oddly awkward sort of feeling: what is this? Who is this for?

It's clear to me that this is a quirky sort of coming-of-age story about some random kids in an early 70's Californian suburbia, okay... And the cute non-sequitur name "Licorice Pizza" conjures associations with the sorts of silly in-jokes you had with your teen-aged friends in high school, jokes that you've long since put away with other childish things...

There's nothing wrong with any of that, in fact it's kind of sweet... it's just that the preview's vibe felt like it was trying to spin the whole situation as terribly compelling when it was really just banal and pretentious. There seemed to be no reason for it to be in the 70s other than... its own sake. It somehow just doesn't feel like a story that even deserves to be told.

maybe I'm just getting old but does anyone else get that feeling? Like movies back in the day were somehow more connected to what the audience wanted, and to what the wider world was concerned with? Yeah movies are fantasy, they should be an escape, but it's only in the last five years or so that I've noticed this strange vibe from movies that they have nothing to do with anything except the filmmaker's ego, and "Licorice Pizza" is a good example of that.

[–] bistritapcv (1843) 3 years ago

I wondered what the point was.

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 3 years ago

So did I. Was there one?

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[–] Information-Police (4890) 3 years ago

Is about the world that Paul Thomas Anderson grew up in. If you want to set a movie in the world you grew up in, feel free to do so.

[–] Shmulpa (18) 3 years ago

i can respect wanting to tell the story of the place and time where you grew up, but PTA was born in 1970.

also you're sorta misconstruing my argument. I don't dislike it because it's not set where I grew up. I dislike it because it seems like a dumb little vanity project that's set in the 70s because... hey, cool, the 70s.

[–] agentalbert (3107) 3 years ago

Did you see the movie? Or just the trailer?

[–] Information-Police (4890) 3 years ago

That seems like strange reason to dislike it.

[–] Shmulpa (18) 3 years ago

I don't think I'm making myself clear enough. In my subjective experience, lots of movies now lack a sense of *meaning* or *purpose*. They lack a sense of significance. "Licorice Pizza" lacks this quality more than most.

This is difficult to explain to people who don't get it already, like bad writing. There is such a thing as bad writing, like the lack of a character arc from Rey in the Disney Star Wars sequels. Or everything in "The Predator."

You can have a well-written story about meaningful things, like a first love, but have it still be meaningless self-indulgence. That's what this movie seems like to me. Because nothing about it seems to have been inspired by anything except the filmmaker's desire to stroke his own ego.

He didn't grow up in the early 70s. He didn't have an affair with an older woman as a teenager, and I don't think has anything meaningful to say about old-young relationships or envy or heartbreak (like in the Graduate); he apparently just kinda threw that in there because it was edgy. Like everything else. That's why this gives me that awkward feeling.

[–] Information-Police (4890) 3 years ago

Did you see the movie?

[–] Shmulpa (18) 3 years ago

no, but based on experience, I bet I'm right.

[–] stinky (52) 3 years ago

No? Well that explains a lot. Maybe actually watch the movie and learn about all the actual events that inspired the various scenes.

Or sit on moviechat and judge things that you've never seen.

[–] Kowalski (75736) 3 years ago

BASED ON EXPERIENCE, YOU'RE AN IDIOT.

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 3 years ago

I saw the movie tonight, and you are completely right!

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[–] cyberbob (3488) 3 years ago

I agree. You worded exactly how I felt about the movie better than I could have

[–] Shmulpa (18) 3 years ago

thats kind of you, thanks

[–] bistritapcv (1843) 3 years ago

We never found out whether Joe Wachs was elected or not. That was unfinished. I think the restaurant scene may have implied he was gay.

Why did John Peters start knocking over garbage cans?

Why or how were the water beds fat burners?

What happened to Lance?

[–] stinky (52) 3 years ago

"I think the restaurant scene may have implied he was gay."

May have?

Wow, this movie really went over your head.

(Are you also still wondering if Senator Palantine won the presidency?)

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 3 years ago

No clue.
Yes, he was gay.
No clue
No clue.

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[–] DracTarashV2 (4493) 3 years ago

Deep.

maybe I'm just getting old

Perhaps. Most likely. Definitely. ;) And you didn’t need to drop the oh-so original “back in my day” stuff (boomer flex) to make this more obvious, but it’s evident that’s the case here.

Egotistical and pretentious? First time anyone has ever said this when discussing the work of this film’s director. Ever! (Not the biggest fan myself actually, but I respect his work.) Well, if this filmmaker and every other filmmaker today is exactly what you feel they are (filmmakers who think too highly of themselves is certainly a new phenomenon! One NEVER heard about that in the 20th century and it was never reflected in film), then what’s also true is those like you…. and in these boards you have plenty of company…. take yourself very seriously.

Moving on…

[–] Ripkens25 (2025) 3 years ago

OP....I understand your take on this, and I tend to agree. This movie seems like it's just trying to be the "look how simple and quirky this is" antithesis to the big budget blockbuster. In other words...a pretentious vanity project, to show us just how artsy and quirky PTA can be.

No, I haven't seen this movie yet......but I've seen the trailer several times now, and it's not even remotely appealing. A trailer is supposed to be somewhat of a highlight reel of key elements.....so as to entice you to want to see the movie. I see this trailer and it's not only not appealing, it's actually off-putting.

[–] stinky (52) 3 years ago

Just stop already.

"A trailer is supposed to be somewhat of a highlight reel of key elements"

Not true at all. Perhaps for the Fast and Furious or Spiderman movies you love. But there are many types of trailers in existence and many great ones that aren't "a highlight reel of key elements".

"I see this trailer and it's not only not appealing, it's actually off-putting."

For you. Many found the trailer to amazing and made them look forward to the film's opening even more.

[–] Ripkens25 (2025) 3 years ago

Opinions vary.

[–] Arasaid (198) 3 years ago

The trailer gave me the creeps so much, I didn't want to see it again, let alone pay to see the film.

[–] FilmBuff (7240) 3 years ago

It's for people who want cinema that makes them think and feel, and reexamine the world around them. Licorice Pizza was a popular chain of record stores in the '70s and '80s, so the name conjures up a mood and feeling for some.

More than anything else I find it interesting that you are critiquing a film you haven't seen, based on your takeaway from its trailer.

[–] Kowalski (75736) 3 years ago

☝🏾

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 3 years ago

Yes, I agree!

"Banal and pretentious"! I couldn't have described this film better, but I'd also add boring. I have no idea what the
point (if any) was supposed to be, or why this is so highly regarded. I give it a 6.

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