This is not Anderson’s best film and that being said, I would venture to guess he might not have been trying to make his best film either. This is something altogether different, almost like an experiment. None of that is to say it’s bad, just decidedly not for everyone.
There are some super hilarious moments here. I wish there had been more because there is a lot of slogging through scenes to get to those great moments. The first half is much stronger than the second and by the 3rd act, the film is running out of steam, attempting to tie up some loose ends that by this time, don’t really fit together.
Phoenix is brilliant as the lead and Josh Brolin does some of his best work I’ve seen in a long time. There are fun cameos along the way. At times, when it is most comedic, it’s got a vibe similar to The Big Lebowski but other times, it gets grim with all the drug use and long dialogue scenes talking about different people’s names involved in the case. By the end of the film, you realize 70% of the dialogue was just there to throw the viewer off that there really was no case to be solved.
I liked it though probably wouldn’t watch it again and I wouldn’t recommend it to most. I think a good portion of people might hate this film. But if you are an Anderson fan, it’s fun to watch him work and try something new.