Awards season will be up on soon, which explains why of late there’s been an increase in the number of somber trailers for genre movie that are traditionally more Oscar-friendly, such as biopics (The Theory of Everything), wartime dramas (The Water Diviner), or biopics set primarily during wartime (The Imitation Game, Unbroken). And then we have the unabashedly bizarre, offbeat, and slapstick-friendly trailer for Inherent Vice, the upcoming 1970s detective/neo-Noir romp from writer/director P.T. Anderson (There Will Be Blood, The Master), based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon.



'Terminator 5' Receives The Worst Name Change Yet

Man Gets Worst News Possible on 'Pawn Stars'

The Most-Wanted Movie Sequels of All Time

Teenager Dressed as Slender Man Kicked Out of Sydney Comic Con
Inherent Vice reunites Anderson with his Master star Joaquin Phoenix, this time with the latter portraying pothead P.I. Larry “Doc” Sportello, who gets drawn into a case that involves the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend, set against the historic backdrop of life in early Nixon-era Los Angeles. What happens from there is, well, a bit difficult to explain, but his investigation brings Doc face to face with a collection of exceptionally unusual characters (brought to life by such reputable character actors as Josh Brolin, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio del Toro, Maya Rudolph, and Martin Short, among others).

The trailer for Inherent Vice, as mentioned before, doesn’t so much offer insight on the film’s narrative as it does showcase the cast’s collective oddball performances and distinctly ’70 fashion choices, be it Phoenix’s mad sideburns, Brolin’s flattop haircut, or Short’s velvet suit and pants (or lack thereof). Anderson’s latest film premiered at the 2014 New York Film Festival during this past week, and you can find out what some of the reviews say thus far, below.