Teenage kicks

LICORICE PIZZA directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

hen it comes to the Californian shaggy dog tale, Paul Thomas Anderson remains the master breeder.  just might be his cutest pooch and . Those were grown-up tales – was decidedly adult – but is mostly one about the kids. It’s powered by great debut performances by Cooper Hoffman (son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, an Anderson regular) and Alana Haim, the youngest of the three sisters in the rock band Haim. Hoffman is Gary Valentine, a 15-year-old freckled ball of self-confidence who is exploring other options now that his child acting days are on the wane. Haim is Alana, 10 years his senior, who rebuffs Gary’s initial romantic advances but is soon chaperoning him on an acting trip to New York then becoming his business partner in a waterbed store. Quite a lot more happens in this rambling episodic affair, which heads down a fair few cul de sacs as the pair’s friendship takes some odd turns. Some involve brushes with actual Hollywood sleazebags, including Bradley Cooper as infamous producer Jon Peters and Sean Penn as actor and ageing daredevil William Holden.