The overall story is a paranoia-fueled, anti-drug tale; but after expending most of its length trading in stoner comedy, the feeling generated is about on par with watching Cheech and Chong follow up a screening of their Up in Smoke (1978) with a PSA on the evils of marijuana.
Imagine the spirit of "Chinatown" crossed with the impenetrability of "The Big Sleep" -- with hints of Cheech and Chong's "Up in Smoke" wafting through every frame -- and you've got some idea of what's in store with "Inherent Vice."
The movie Scorsese has made from the book overflows with unzipped braggadocio, self-exposure that’s at once aggrandizing and incriminating, and drug comedy that does for coke and Quaaludes what “Up in Smoke” did for doobies.
Michael Sragow, Orange County Register•Orange County Register•Dec 24, 2013