Inherent Vice is a drug fuelled, surreal, edgy criminal dramedy with a complicated plot, spectacular cast and is a cult film in the making.

Based on the Thomas Pynchon novel “Inherent Vice”, it is set in hazy L.A. at the end of the sixties and the end of the hippy era. Private eye Doc Sportello (Phoenix) is called to investigate a missing persons case which becomes tangled up with his ex-girlfriend, her new boyfriend, his wife and her boyfriend, a real estate tycoon, Nazi bikers, a drug cartel and the LAPD. As Doc digs deeper into the case, it all spirals out of control.

The cast is huge. Joaquin Phoenix, as usual, is outstanding with amazing physical comedic presence. Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro put in excellent performances alongside the likes of Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, and Martin Short.

Inherent Vice reminds me of a Coen Brothers film; think, The Big Lebowski, drugs and ridiculousness, kidnapping and weird connections but made more convoluted and hard to focus on the plot. There is a delightful texture to this film, the nod to the dying ’60s, and the beginning of the ’70s – the fashion, the aesthetics and even the characters names, like Puck Beaverton. Inherent Vice is messy and colourful, complicated and funny, and just itching for its ‘Cult’ status.