Cooper Hoffman

It’s the 1970s in the San Fernando Valley when 10th grader Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) first spies Alana Kane (Alana Haim) working for a yearbook headshot photographer. He’s 15 and she’s in her mid-20s. But that doesn’t stop him from asking her for a date. How will he pay for it? she inquires. Not a problem. He’s a smooth-talking former child star, declaring: “I’m a showman. It’s my calling.”

Licorice Pizza, like all Paul Thomas Anderson films, is an acquired taste, but this film happens to be one of his easiest to digest. Set in 1973, this engaging coming of age dramedy is Dazed and Confused in Hollywood, as one young actor named Gary Valentine navigates his life and love during Fast Times in the San Fernando Valley.