IT could be argued that the best way to watch Inherent Vice - a long, indulgent shaggy-dog tale about a private eye who smokes dope, wears hippie sandals and infuriates people in authority - is while under the influence of an illegal substance.

That might make it easier to relate to Paul Thomas Anderson's challenging and unwieldy film revolving around a mysterious disappearance and some mostly bad goings-on in Los Angeles in 1970, in a city filled with charlatans, desperadoes and space cadets seeking salvation (a topic Anderson dealt with in his 2012 film The Master).

The film, written and directed by Anderson and adapted from Thomas Pynchon's book of the same name, is populated by a variety of flawed and desperate characters - none more so than Larry "Doc" Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix), a hapless investigator who gets caught up in a complicated plot that includes murder, kidnapping and a lot of smoke (cigarette and otherwise).