Review of Paul Thomas Anderson's 'One Battle After Another'

Part way through "One Battle After Another," Leonardo DiCaprio’s chronically stoned Bob places a panicked call to the French 75, the leftist terrorist network he once worked for. His cover has been blown and the law is after him, but the unhelpful phone agent is asking for long-forgotten passwords and security phrases. "I can’t remember any more of this code speak," Bob pleads.

"Maybe," the agent replies, "you should have studied the rebellion text a little harder."

It’s one of the funniest and most relatable scenes in Anderson’s entertaining if uneven comedy, a gonzo journey through America’s extremist political landscape. The story borrows loosely from "Vineland," a 1990 novel by the absurdist Thomas Pynchon, so the characters include a stiff-spined Army colonel named Steven J. Lockj