Licorice Pizza is one of the most riveting movies based in the 70s, and while the set and costume designs accurately represent the decade of disco, that's just window dressing. It's the ensemble cast of fascinating, weird, and wonderful characters that make the movie so compelling, but they aren't exactly the smartest.
As is the case with most Paul Thomas Anderson-directed movies, whether it's There Will Be Blood, Licorice Pizza follows a group of characters who all make one mistake after the next. But there's still a methodical politician and 15-year-old entrepreneur amongst them.
Jack Holden
Sean Penn gives one of the best performances in Licorice Pizza, but that doesn't mean his character is intelligent or even likable. Holden (Penn) is a typical movie star of the era, as he's so narcissistic and his own biggest fan. He interchanges being himself and playing a character so often that it's hard to tell when he's being himself, and, sometimes, it seems that not even he knows.
The character's clear drinking problem could be to blame and at least plays a major part in his intelligence. But he makes the worst decisions of any character in the film, and he even thinks it's a smart decision to drive a motorbike up a ramp and over a fire on a golf course, which leaves Alana injured.
Lance
Lance is one of the most entertaining characters in the movie, and while he may not be a great friend, as he dated Alana while knowing how much Gary liked her, it led to some of the most laugh-out-loud funny scenes of the movie. There's one scene, in particular, that shows just how dumb Lance is, even if it was brave at the same time.
When visiting Alana's family and having dinner at their house, Alana's father asks Lance to participate in Jewish prayer, but he refuses because he identifies as an atheist and doesn't associate with Judaism. It makes for such an awkward moment that follows with him getting kicked out of the house, and he could have very easily avoided it by simply playing along.
Jerry Frick
Jerry Frick is one of the many characters based on real-life people, as the real-life Frick was a restauranteur and the first to open a Japanese restaurant in the San Fernando Valley area, which was called The Mikado. The movie sees him attempting to promote that very restaurant, and he's struggling.
While he clearly has the smarts to get this far, the two short scenes Jerry has see him at his very dumbest. While he clearly doesn't mean anything by it, the way Frick speaks to his wife in a Japanese accent while still speaking in English comes off as totally naive and ignorant, not to mention insulting.
Momma Anita
Momma Anita could very much be one of the movie's most intelligent characters, but, unfortunately, audiences would never know because they don't get to see much of her. Most of the time, she's in the background, working for Gary's waterbed company or one of his other ventures.
In every scene, Anita seems to be Gary's loyal assistant and little else. But given that she's his mother, it's strange that she doesn't have more involvement in the film or have anything to say about Gary's weird relationship with Alana, who is 10 years older than him.
Jon Peters
In real life, Jon Peters must be intelligent enough, as he went from a hairdresser to a major Hollywood producer, with the crown jewel in his career being 1989's ies that inspired Anderson's work, few other producers in Hollywood came from such humble beginnings.
However, that isn't exactly how he's painted in Licorice Pizza, as the character is an unpredictable alpha male who runs around like a dog chasing cars. He jumps between screaming empty threats at Gary, trying to drive a car with no gas, smashing up cars at gas stations, and, finally, trying to pick up women by asking if they like peanut butter sandwiches.
Mary Grady
Mary Grady is yet another character based on a real person, as she was a child talent agent in the 70s. Just as was the case in real life, in the movie, Grady has an eye for talent and her back-handed compliments are just as nice as they are cruel. The best of them all comes when she tells Alana, “you remind me of a dog. Of an English pit bull dog, with sex appeal and a very Jewish nose.”
And though Alana isn't exactly the best liar in the world, Grady sees right through the wannabe actor. Grady's tough and intimidating exterior forces anyone who comes into with her to fold like a house of cards, making her the smartest person in the room at any given time.
Alana Kane
Alana is one of the smartest characters simply because she's the most realistic and down to Earth character in the movie. She refuses to date Gary because of his age, and even though they were ultimately successful, she lectures Gary on the questionable ways he goes about his business ventures.
While Alana does make some mistakes, such as attempting to become an actor and hanging around with Jack Holden, she's one of the best judges of characters and is willing to volunteer at Joel Wach's office because of what he stood for. On top of that, she even managed to reverse a 10-ton truck down a very steep hill without crashing.
Gary Valentine
The 70s setting is one of Paul Thomas Anderson's many trademarks, and the events that happened in the decade of disco are expertly used in the 2021 movie. The gas crisis and the outlawing of pinball machines a major plot points in the movie, both of which Gary opportunistically exploits for profit.
As he finds out that pinball will become legal again ahead of its announcement, he immediately purchases as many pinball machines as he can and opens an arcade. He even sees the potential in waterbeds and creates a successful waterbed business in days. And while many of his ventures could be considered "schemes," that pejorative doesn't do justice to how much foresight and intellect the character really has.
Joel Wachs
Joel Wachs is the final character based on a real person from the era, as he was a real-life politician running for office in the early 70s. He was also a closeted gay man, as he didn't want to jeopardize either his personal life or his career.
While Wachs comes off a little stiff and anti-social at times, he's extremely calculated, and the way he methodically conceives the plan for Alana to pretend to be his partner's girlfriend is ingenious. The biggest mistake he made was talking openly about the legalization of pinball machines, which was hardly catastrophic.
