This film in it's own right is very unique, whilst holding sheer similarities to others, namely of it's own kind "The Big Lebowski" another neo-noir crime comedy. Both main characters are akin, lazy stoners trying to solve a severely confusing and tangled web of crime. Both films contain narrations and even femme-fatales, but this is a review of Inherent Vice, not the two together.

What really made this film enjoyable for me was it's subtlety to the noir genre, it had alot of other elements and themes of other genres, whilst containing the textbook noir style; smoke, silhouettes, bars, extreme closeups and even a psychedelic rendition of classic noir soundtrack.

The story itself was very confusing and long, but I had a general idea of what was going on. Was this done on purpose? Possibly. Joaquin Phoenix as Larry "Doc" Sportello spends much of the film smoking weed, so perhaps the confusion of the plot was a representation of the experiences of the main character himself.

Apart from this, the film was spectacular. A very picturesque rendition of the 1970s, packed with hippies and vibrant colours and all the other small things that made the 70s so iconic, alongside a fantastically chosen soundtrack (including the psychedelic noir mentioned previously). Another nice touch was the quality of the film, it wasn't filmed in HD and had a sort of fuzziness to it, furthering it's imprint as being set in the 1970s. This realism really adds to the immersion of the film.

In closing i'd like to say this film is like marmite, it's long and hard to understand which makes some hate it, but the visuals and vibrancy with the cinematography and soundtrack, also make others love it.