I rate
Inherent Vice , whereas everything else from PTA I'd rate between
and
. (For the record, I haven't seen
Hard Eight.) I struggle with names, so I always feel like I'm struggling to keep up with detective films. That happened with me during
Inherent Vice, too, and Phoenix's mumbling didn't help matters. (I had to re-watch a few scenes with subtitles.) The comparisons that people have made to
The Long Goodbye are apt.
Inherent Vice has a plot. There's a mystery to solve. But just like in
The Long Goodbye, the mystery is the least interesting aspect of the film. On a first viewing, it's impossible for me to ignore the plot completely (and the plot is nowhere near as confusing as I'd been led to believe), but it feels like the mystery aspect is getting in the way of all the good stuff that
Inherent Vice has going for it. That's why I think I'd like the film a lot more on a second viewing. I dug the time period and the stoner vibes and the dialogue and the character interactions. The "organic humor," as you called it, was probably my favorite aspect. So far it's my least favorite PTA film, but it's still better than anything most directors will ever make.
As for PTA in general, we're mostly of the same mind. I disagree pretty strongly with the sentiments made by MM and ursaguy. I think PTA wore his Altman influence too heavily early in his career, but he's developed his own identity as he's gone along. Maybe this is why
Inherent Vice seemed like such a step down from
There Will Be Blood and
The Master, since it was essentially PTA doing his own version of an Altman film again.