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.
Gary begins selling waterbeds after coming across one at a wig shop and reconnects with Alana at a teenage trade expo. While at the expo, Gary is mistaken for a murder suspect and arrested on the spot, and Alana runs after him to the police station. He is soon released when the mix-up is sorted out. She joins his waterbed business, acting seductively on the phone to land a potential customer.
After introducing Alana to his talent agent, Gary is upset that she is open to nudity but refuses to show him her breasts. She impulsively does so, but slaps him when he asks to touch them. They open a "Fat Bernie's" storefront for their waterbeds and Alana is hurt when Gary flirts with his classmate Sue and later makes out with Sue in the back room. A jealous Alana peeks in on them before kissing a man on the street, then storming off.
Gary's agent secures Alana an audition for a film starring veteran actor Jack Holden, who brings her to the Tail o' the Cock restaurant, where Gary and his friends are also dining. An inebriated Alana makes Gary jealous, and Holden's friend, film director Rex Blau, convinces him to recreate one of his motorcycle stunts on a nearby golf course, bringing the entire restaurant along. Alana topples off the bike as Holden jumps over a flaming sand trap, and Gary runs to her side. Reconciled, they walk to the waterbed store, where Gary stops himself from touching a sleeping Alana's breast.
The 1973 oil crisis sweeps the country, forcing the waterbed manufacturer to close. Alana, Gary and his friends make one final delivery to the home of Jon Peters. As he leaves to meet his girlfriend, Barbra Streisand, Peters humiliates Gary, threatening to strangle his brother if Gary damages the house.
While setting up the waterbed in the master bedroom, Gary intentionally leaves the hose running while filling it, with Alana's approval. They drive away but are waved down by an agitated Peters, whose car has run out of gas. Driving him home to retrieve a gas canister, they take him to a crowded gas station but leave him behind after he violently commandeers a gas pump. Gary stops to smash Peters's car, but then they run out of gas as well. Alana maneuvers the truck backwards down a long hill to a gas station, impressing Gary but causing Alana to question her recent decisions.