Regardless of 'Licorice Pizza' including high profile celebrities, the controversies within the film are overshadowing their performances.
The highly anticipated Licorice Pizza has finally been released in theaters worldwide! Starring actors such as Alana Haim and Bradley Cooper, the movie was a hit with critics, and scored multiple Golden Globe nominations. Unfortunately, fans sometimes disagree with critics. In this case, it's almost every theatergoer with social media accounts.
So far, reviews have discussed how the film is a must-see movie, with Rotten Tomatoes giving the film a 92% rating overall. The majority of the audience were also young adults, the demographic age group that is the most difficult to impress. This fact has since outshined the good reviews, as the young audiences are now tearing the film apart for its use of racism and pedophilia.
Son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cooper Hoffman was cast as the male lead. Being a teenager himself, the actor portrays fifteen-year-old Gary Valentine, who falls in love with 25-year-old Alana Kane (Haim), and the two eventually begin a friendship turned friendly relationship. In reality, Hoffman and Haim have a 12-13 year age gap, as the singer is thirty years old.
'Licorice Pizza' Showcases Brilliant Performances Shrouded With Controversy
Some of the characters in this film are based on actual people in the industry. In Licorice Pizza, Cooper portrays Jon Peters, a film producer who in the movie, is an aggressive man who threatens to murder the family of the main characters, commits vandalism, and is distracted by beautiful women. In reality, Peters was known as a successful producer and womanizer. Coincidently enough, he was credited as a producer in Cooper's film A Star is Born.
Director and producer Paul Thomas Anderson wrote the screenplay for Haim in 2019. Cooper signed on to play Peters shortly afterward, and Hoffman was one of the last actors offered a role. Before the film entered post-production, the notorious film producer permitted for him to be a character in the movie and for it to be a depiction of him from the 1970s. As of this publication, it wasn't reported whether or not other people portrayed in the film that are still alive gave their approval.
'Licorice Pizza' Isn't The Only Film With Racist Undertones And Big Age Gaps
Unfortunately, Licorice Pizza is just one example of a critically acclaimed film using racism in its movie. One notable example is the 1980's film Sixteen Candles. The character everyone remembers is Long Duk Dong, the Asian foreign exchange student. Initially, his character was hilarious to audiences, and his character has become a popular meme. However, as time went on, his character began known as nothing but an "offensive stereotype of Asian people," becoming a reason why audiences refuse to watch the film.
However, one of the most popular movies of the late nineties is American Beauty. This film focuses on a man (Kevin Spacey) who is in the midst of a mid-life crisis who becomes obsessed with his daughter's sixteen-year-old friend Angela (Mena Suvari). Near the end of the movie, nothing sexual occurs, but it almost does, with the character shown to be topless. In reality, Spacey and Suvari have a twenty-year age difference, as they were forty and twenty when the movie was made. The film is still considered a classic, winning five Academy Awards.
The Licorice Pizza Instagram account has continued to promote the film, and its soundtrack. The film is out in theaters everywhere. As of this publication, the film has grossed $1.3 million from a $40 million budget, and will possibly become a box office flop.