sahil koul’s review published on Letterboxd:
Another hit from the legend himself.
This oozes PTA. Only he could’ve made it.
Thoughts are kind of blurry right now but the whole LA-ness of this was just so immersive and mesmerizing.
Sean Penn, Tom Waits sequence was amazing. Bradley Cooper stole all his scenes. Benny Safdie subplot was peak PTA.
Alana and Cooper. Young love. Fucking perfect chemistry. The fact that this is both of their debuts makes this ten times better.
It’s PTA’s love letter to his childhood and although not as instantly magnetic as Boogie Nights or There Will Be Blood, the fun-loving spirit of Licorice Pizza is so memorable. This will go down as the little baby of his filmography. When PTA looks back at when he made this, as his career comes to an end, I have a feeling it would be the one he treasures most.
