In these divided states of America, if there is one thing that we can all agree on, it is that this is the perfect time for a bonkers comedy about violent revolutionaries attacking a fascist government filled with members of a racist secret society who are conducting brutal crackdowns on immigrants. Who among us hasn’t seen recent news as an obvious one-way trip on the giggle bus to chuckle-town?

Either Warner Bros. has taken viral marketing to an upsetting new level or writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson is a narrative Nostradamus. Because calling One Battle After Another “timely” feels like it undersells the concept of time. What is even more seemingly impossible is the fact that it fully and completely works. From frame one to the credits’ conclusion, PTA’s latest is a barn-burning riot that is somehow equal parts political thriller and screwball bananas nonsense. And everyone loves it, except for a handful of people who are really, really, really going to hate it.

Although not directly labeled Antifa, the revolutionary group at the center of the film has a name that references France, so it’ll upset people the exact same amount anyway. The French 75 is a far-left extremist group who open the film by freeing immigrants from a detention center. Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a demolitions expert and well-intended idiot. His girlfriend, Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), is a wild freedom fighter who gets tangled up with Colonel Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn), who has the best villain name and worst haircut ever.

Shortly after Perfidia delivers a baby, a French 75 mission goes sideways, and Pat is forced to flee with the newborn. Fast-forward about 16 years, and Pat now goes by Bob and is in hiding, still raising Charlene, who now goes by Willa (Chase Infiniti). Although Bob’s politics haven’t changed, his passion has run dry. It’s like if Che Guevera became “The Dude” from The Big Lebowski. But when Lockjaw tries to gain entry into an elite secret society, he must first settle old scores. He comes roaring after Bob and Willa, splitting them up and sending them on the run, leaving Bob with only a local karate sensei (Benecio Del Toro) as an ally.

That glosses over so much of the gleeful gibberish that permeates PTA’s script, loosely adapted from a Thomas Pynchon work. What a summary also can’t capture is the brilliantly discordant tone. Scenes don’t alternate between hilarious and breath-stealingly nerve-wracking. They are both at the same time. For example, watching DiCaprio hop from rooftop to rooftop in a flannel bathrobe led by a squad of helpful skateboarders is objectively very funny. Just below him, in frame at the same time, is a raging riot instigated by government agents who toss out slurs like candy at a parade and are eager to crack skulls.

Speaking of DiCaprio, he is so much better here as a dirtbag dumb-dumb than in any of his high-profile, nominated roles. Penn makes the lip-wiggling, lift-wearing Lockjaw an all-time classic buffoon baddie, whose name should be used as a shorthand for authoritarian awfulness in the same way that Nurse Ratched is still a salty shot at a healthcare worker. But Infiniti is the breakout star, awash in nuance and charisma.

Everything, everything, everything in One Battle After Another works, even when it shouldn’t. The “pay-attention-to-me,” plinky-plonky, jazzy score should be annoying but absolutely isn’t. A car chase in which the three vehicles involved never get closer to one another than a football field shouldn’t be pulse-pounding but is. The nearly three-hour running time somehow flies by.

The whole thing is a glorious comedic cacophony that takes more of an explicit moral stand than The Long Walk, proving that intense self-seriousness and brutality is by no means the best way to condemn oppression. Maybe laughter is?

Grade = A+

Other Critical Voices to Consider

Siddhant Adlakha at Truthdig says “Representing a collision of intimacy and bombast, Anderson’s One Battle After Another is the rare American studio film that captures the revolutionary spirit, balancing energizing tableaus of rebellion with sobering realities about who and what is at stake. It’s a hilarious, invigorating and, at moments, breathtaking work that feels dangerous to the touch.”

Kristy Puchko at Mashable says “I kid you not, though this movie is nearly three hours long, I’d have believed you if you told me it’s 90 minutes. While Anderson is known for a meaty runtime, he has rarely crafted so propulsive a plot line that the film just races by. This is all the more impressive considering the sprawl of characters, arcs, drama, comedy, and politics that come into the mix.”

Amy Nicholson at the LA Times says “Despite the testosterone in the title, no one in One Battle After Another throws a mano a mano punch. The violence is large, state-like and looming, and when it bears down on an individual, it’s as impersonal as a bullet. Characters in this movie surface and get dragged away. Some are big names, some of our favorites don’t get a name at all. The churn goes on, relentless.”