I haven't liked a PTA film in a while, almost 20 years, and this one being surrounded by 'controversy' – people saying it's liberal propaganda or whatever – I didn't expect much. Turns out most of it is exaggerated – sure it's touching upon 'revolutionaries', fighting 'the system', but it doesn't really glorify it, rather showing the pointlessness and various consequences of it, one of the characters, the mother, being too self-centered and egoistic, not talking about being a bit of a **** as well. Leo's character is often irritated with the 'liberals' and their rules, cursing them himself in a funny way. I also liked his stoned forgetfulness, stumbling around majority of the movie, kinda like Lebowski.
There's the director's signature background music accompanying long sequences made of separate scenes, which I love since Magnolia. Music itself isn't as good, but still...
Liked the real on location shooting of the whole film and the desert finale with the rocky roads especially.
Wouldn't have trusted those people in place of Lockjaw though – his character intentionally was written as a dummy, because a man of his experience would've suspected something...