October 4, 2025 – There have not been many good movies in theaters lately, but finally, one has arrived. High profile director Paul Thomas Anderson (“Punch-Drunk Love,” “Boogie Nights” and “Licorice Pizza”) has unleashed what is arguably his best film yet with this dizzying comedy adventure.

Anderson, who also produced and wrote “One Battle After Another” has created a compelling story with strong characters. The story about a stoner ex-revolutionary, “Ghetto” Pat Calhoun (played by veteran actor Leonardo DiCaprio) who suddenly finds himself under attack by a crazy ICE agent, is full of twists and turns.

The acting talent in this film is sky high with award winning actors DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall and Alana Haim. Penn plays protagonist Steven Lockjaw, an ICE officer who wants to find Calhoun and his daughter, Charlene (played by Chase Infiniti) and kill them. Lockjaw has an opportunity to join an influential white supremacist organization, called the Christmas Adventurers Club, but first he needs to bury some old relationships that stand in the way.

Lockjaw was quite willing to forget old relationships with Calhoun's family, until his past becomes a problem for some crazed racists. His past includes Calhoun (AKA Bob Ferguson) Charlene (AKA Willa Ferguson) and Charlene's mother, Perfidia Beverly Hills (played by Teyana Taylor of “A Thousand and One”). Flashbacks show Calhoun and Perfidia's involvement in the revolutionary group French 75 years earlier with Lockjaw and other law enforcement officers in hot pursuit of them.

Perfidia disappeared in Mexico long ago, while Calhoun and Charlene live under assumed names in the U.S. Calhoun has become a stoner, while Charlene has grown weary of her father's paranoid overprotective behavior. But even paranoids have real enemies and Lockjaw shows up looking for them. Charlene escapes capture at the last minute with the aid of her paranoid training and Deandra (Regina Hall of “Shaft”) a former French 75 member.

Charlene and her father are split up as they desperately try to get back together and escape Lockjaw's forces. Along the way Charlene learns troubling facts about her mother, and gains a new respect for Calhoun. Charlene's sensei, Sergio St. Carlos (played by Benicio Del Toro of “The Phoenician Scheme”) turns out to be a man of many connections who helps Calhoun, and many others, escape from Lockjaw's forces.

Lockjaw's forces cause a huge commotion, which gets the attention of the Christmas Adventurers Club. Complications result from Lockjaw attracting this unwanted attention. Mayhem, murder, pursuit and escape are the result of these mad obsessions. Mere survival begins to look unlikely as the lunatic murderous white supremacists close in.

This is a hell of a yarn, with its call back to left-wing political violence of the 1970s along with the more recent right-wing political violence. Memorable characters, action, suspense and humor all combine for a hell of a movie, which rates an A.

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