Inherent Vice is a 2014 American
stoner crime comedy-drama film. The seventh feature film directed by
Paul Thomas Anderson,
Inherent Vice was adapted by Anderson from the
novel of the same name by
Thomas Pynchon, and stars an ensemble cast including
Joaquin Phoenix,
Josh Brolin,
Owen Wilson,
Katherine Waterston,
Reese Witherspoon,
Benicio del Toro,
Jena Malone,
Joanna Newsom,
Jeannie Berlin,
Maya Rudolph,
Michael K. Williams and
Martin Short. As with its source material, the storyline revolves around Larry "Doc" Sportello, a
stoner hippie and
PI in 1970, as he becomes embroiled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld whilst investigating three cases interrelated by the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend and her wealthy boyfriend.