While it's true that Paul Thomas Anderson could direct "Phone Book: The Movie" and it would still end up on my year-end "best of" list, Licorice Pizza conjures up a fascinating relationship between a teenager seemingly wise beyond his years and a twenty-something who just can't seem to figure out how to navigate the real world.

A lot of debate has been stirred up in The Discourse about the appropriateness of the relationship between these two characters. But I feel as though the film is neither the grotesque endorsement of the age gap that its detractors view it as, nor the staunch rebuke of it that some defenders claim it to be. What Licorice Pizza does exceedingly well is give us an utterly compelling pair of characters and allow us to watch as they grow together, apart and together again in a world that expects women to grow up and allows men to stay children forever.

This film is a good exercise in placing a story in a past decade. The production design shines with a very successful setting of the 70's. Unfortunately this is almost all that shines.

The script is repetitive and many times it doesn't get anywhere. The grounded and common appearances wanting to stand out are appreciated, but they fail to completely captivate in a totally forgettable story. There are some passages in the story that are funny, but there are others that are flat and boring.

The performances of the protagonists are good and very well supported by the big names that glow by themselves in the brief scenes in which they appear. The technical aspects such as editing and sound meet the standards of the director.

It is a movie I would never see again.

I have mixed feelings about this movie. The central relationship between Alana and Gary is great, and both actors are doing a great job. The scene where they're on the telephone and not saying anything is my favorite scene in the movie. Alana is an interesting character, seeing how impressionable she is, trying out different personas throughout the film. What I didn't like as much was the interludes with the celebrity cameos. I didn't like the part with Sean Penn and Tom Waits at all, and the Bradley Cooper part wasn't my favorite either. It does feel a little too long. Overall, I'd say it's worth seeing but not worth the Best Picture nominee-level acclaim.