Licorice Pizza

Licorice Pizza is a 2021 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It stars Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman in their film debuts, alongside an ensemble supporting cast including Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, and Benny Safdie. Set in 1973, the film follows the relationship between a teen actor (Hoffman) and a directionless young woman (Haim). Licorice Pizza was released in the United States in select theaters on November 26, 2021, followed by a wide release on December 25. The film was a box-office bomb, grossing $33 million worldwide against a $40 million production budget, but was acclaimed by critics and received three nominations at the 94th Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay, making it Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's first fully produced, marketed, and distributed film to be nominated for Best Picture since Rain Man in 1988. It also received three awards from the National Board of Review, including Best Film, and was named one of the best films of 2021 by the American Film Institute. It received four nominations at the 79th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Anderson won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay. Plot In the San Fernando Valley in 1973, 15-year-old actor Gary Valentine meets Alana Kane, a 25 or 28-year-old photographer's assistant, at his school picture day. She is put off by his invitation to dinner that evening, but shows up anyway. When Gary's mother Anita cannot chaperone him on a press tour performance in New York City, he invites Alana to do it. Alana begins dating his co-star Lance, making Gary jealous, but they break up after Lance says he is an atheist during a Shabbat dinner with her Jewish family.