There wasn’t a movie in 2014 I anticipated more than “Inherent Vice.” Besides being the seventh feature film from Anderson (“Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood”) the film tackles my favorite genre: detective and crime. It was adapted by Paul Thomas Anderson from a novel of the same name by Thomas Pynchon. “Inherent Vice” is a worthy addition to the genre, standing along such stand- outs as “The Big Lebowski,” “Chinatown” and especially “The Long Goodbye.”

The plot, which could be described in many paragraphs or a few sentences, revolves around the world of private investigator/ hippie Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix). Doc lives in Southern California in 1970 and is usually seen with a cloud of weed smoke hovering around him. One night he is visited by his ex-girlfriend Shasta (Katherine Waterston) who needs his help in unraveling a conspiracy that she has been caught up in.

This sets into motion a hazy, paranoid adventure where Doc comes across a cop who also happens to be a okay actor (Josh Brolin), a saxophone player who is also a police informant (Owen Wilson), and a cocaine-addicted dentist played by Martin Short.

The best word to describe “Inherent Vice” would be “dense.” Like the best detective movies, “Inherent Vice” contains long passages of stream-of- consciousness dialogue, ensuring that a second viewing, just to catch up on everything you missed the first time, is in order.

It is impossible to glean a legitimate reaction to “Inherent Vice” after just one viewing. It would not be fair to the film or myself. There is simply too much to unpack in terms of dialogue and visual gags. Anderson packed the frame full of many moving parts, sometimes making it impossible to zero in on any one particular thing. It is obvious that Anderson got a lot of inspiration from the spoof films by the Zucker brothers such as “Airplane!” and “Top Secret!”

“Inherent Vice” was adapted

from a book of the same name by Thomas Pynchon. I have never read any of Pynchon’s books, but I have learned that he is not an easy author to read. After seeing the film I can now see why many thought his books were unfilmable. It takes a keen ear to process the overlapping dialogue and narration, which is nonstop.

I understand that I am not giving a ringing endorsement of the movie, but I am still trying to process what I saw. Some of the great films of the genre such as “The Long Goodbye” and “The Big Lebowski” improve after repeat viewings. I did not like either of those movies the first time I saw them and now they are among my favorites.

Much like the film, this review has been a meandering, stream- of-consciousness mess. If you are into that, I would recommend “Inherent Vice.”