Inherent Vice is a 2014 American crime comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Pynchon. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio del Toro, Jena Malone, Maya Rudolph, and Martin Short. It is the first feature film adapted from a work by Pynchon. The film premiered at the 2014 New York Film Festival and is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States on December 12, 2014.