Watch the zany first trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice

Film and literature buffs alike have been champing at the bit to get a look at Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, based on the Thomas Pynchon novel of the same name. Now, just a few days before its premiere at the New York Film Festival, we can all finally get a glimpse of what the There Will Be Blood director has been cooking up.

This zany first trailer for Inherent Vice dares you to keep up as it rattles off the complicated set-up for the plot, which follows an oddball private detective (Joaquin Phoenix) as he investigates a complicated kidnapping plot at the behest of an ex-girlfriend.

The film's massive ensemble cast includes Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, and Benicio del Toro, and even a brief cameo from the legendarily reclusive Pynchon. Inherent Vice has attracted Oscar buzz from the moment it was announced, so let's hope it can live up to the sky-high expectations when it hits theaters in December.

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