History Film / InherentVice

* NiceGuy: In contrast to many PrivateDetectives found in {{Noir}}, Doc is upbeat and courteous to almost everybody he encounters and genuinely cares for Shasta and Coy's well-beings.

* VisualInnuendo: Bigfoot sure does enjoy sucking on those frozen bananas...

* CreatorCameo: Several news reports stated, and Josh Brolin also reported, that author Thomas Pynchon has a cameo somewhere in the movie. Nothing has ever been confirmed, not surprisingly given the famously reclusive Pynchon, who has gone decades without being photographed. One of the rumors was that Pynchon's hand is wielding the blackjack that comes down on Doc's head at the massage parlor.

* SpiritualSuccessor: A DeconstructiveParody of the neo-noir genre that stars a sleazy, pot-smoking slacker (whose nickname begins with a "D") who gets roped into a KudzuPlot involving a bunch of [[GenreRefugee Genre Refugees]]. [[TheBigLebowski Sound familiar?]]

* TheStoner: Doc and most of his friends smoke weed. He even gets into an argument with Shasta over it.

* SpiritualSuccessor: A DeconstructiveParody of the neo-noir genre that stars a sleazy, pot-smoking slacker (whose nickname begins with a "D") who gets roped into a KudzuPlot involving a bunch of [[GenreRefugee Genre Refugees]]. [[TheBigLebowski Sound familiar?]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: A DeconstructiveParody of the neo-noir genre that stars a sleazy, pot-smoking slacker (whose nickname begins with a "D") that gets roped into a KudzuPlot with numerous plot threads involving a bunch of [[GenreRefugee Genre Refugees]]. [[TheBigLebowski Sound familiar?]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: A DeconstructiveParody of the Neo-noir genre that stars a sleazy, pot-smoking slacker (whose nickname begins with a "D") that gets roped into a KudzuPlot with numerous plot threads involving a bunch of [[GenreRefugee Genre Refugees]]. [[TheBigLebowski Sound familiar?]]

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Doc is a ridiculously laid back hipster who spends most of his time getting high. Despite this, he is very good at infiltrating places, gathering information, and is incredibly street smart. Say what you want about his living circumstances, the man is good at what he does. [[NoRespectGuy Not that the cops would ever admit it.]]

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Doc is a ridiculously laid back hipster who spends most of his time getting high. Despite this, he is very good at infiltrating places, gathering information, and is incredibly street smart. Say what you want about his living circumstances, the man is a valuable informant. [[NoRespectGuy Not that the cops would ever admit it.]]

* LastSupperSteal: A stoner pizza party is framed to look like The Last Supper, with Coy Harlingen, an innocent party victimized by events, in the center.

Doc Sportello (Phoenix) lives in the fictional Southern California town of Gordita Beach in 1970, working as a private investigator while also getting high a lot. One day his ex-girlfriend, Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston), shows up and asks him to take on a case regarding her lover, real-estate developer Mickey Wolfmann. Shasta believes Mickey's wife and Mickey's wife's lover are consipiring to take his money and have him committed. Meanwhile, a gangster named Tariq Khalil hires Doc to find Glen Charlock, another ex-convict who owes him money--and happens to be one of Mickey Wolfmann's bodyguards. Doc gets hired on still a third case when Hope Harlingen asks him to find her husband, Coy. Coy's been reported dead, but Hope doesn't believe it.

* CallBack: After Doc and Shasta have sex, he asks if this means they're back together, and she says "Of course not". The last scene of the movie has Doc and Shasta driving somewhere in a car. She asks if this means they're back together, and he says "Of course not". Cue AsideGlance and smile.

* ActorAllusion: Clancy Charlook says her "preference" is dating two guys simultaneously (and exits Doc's office with two bikers). She is played by a pornographic actress known for that kind of scene.

* DirtyCop: Bigfoot tries to frame Doc by setting him up with a huge amount of heroin stolen from the ''Golden Fang''. It's also implied that he had his old partner murdered.

* CreatorCameo: Several news reports stated, and Josh Brolin also reported, that author Thomas Pynchon has a cameo somewhere in the movie. Nothing has ever been confirmed, not surprisingly given the famously reclusive Pynchon, who has gone decades without being photographed. (One of the rumors was that Pynchon's hand is wielding the blackjack that comes down on Doc's head at the massage parlor.)

* CreatorCameo: Several news reports stated, and Josh Brolin also reported, that author Thomas Pynchon has a cameo somewhere in the movie. Nothing has ever been confirmed, not surprisingly given the famously reclusive Pynchon, who has gone decades without being photographed.

-->--'''Sortilège'''

''Inherent Vice'' is the film adaptation of [[Literature/InherentVice the book of the same name]] by Creator/ThomasPynchon. It was directed and written by Creator/PaulThomasAnderson and stars Creator/JoaquinPhoenix, Creator/JoshBrolin, and an AllStarCast. How all-star? Creator/ReeseWitherspoon is in this movie, and she has three scenes.

* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: The ''Golden Fang'' is being used by a Chinese heroin-smuggling ring.

* PapaWolf: Without actually admitting it, Crocker Fenway basically admits that he had Rudy Blatnoyd killed for the sexual and other liberties that Blatnoyd took with his daughter.

* DirtyCop: Bigfoot tries to frame Doc by setting him up with a huge amount of heroin stolen from the ''Golden Fang''.

->''" If it's a quiet night out at the beach and your ex-old lady suddenly out of nowhere shows up with a story about her current billionaire- developer boyfriend, and his wife, and her boyfriend, and a plot to kidnap the billionaire and throw him in a loony bin... Maybe you should just look the other way."''
-->-- Sortilège

* UnrevealAngle: Hope Harlington hands Doc a photo of her baby, which causes him to scream in shock, but we don't see it.