Licorice Pizza Ending Explained: What Alana & Gary's Final Scene Means
WARNING: Major spoilers ahead for Licorice Pizza!
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza concludes with an ambiguous final scene for Alana and Gary — here’s what the ending means for the film’s protagonists. Licorice Pizza is Paul Thomas Anderson’s ninth movie and follows Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman), a 15-year-old child actor and entrepreneur, and Alana Kane (Alana Haim), a 25-year-old photographer’s assistant, as the two meet, run around, fall in love, and help each other find themselves in the San Fernando Valley in 1973. From starting a waterbed company and pin-ball palace to joining a mayoral campaign, Licorice Pizza nostalgically depicts a moment in time of two people growing up with contrasting trials and tribulations of youth.
While many have said Licorice Pizza is told from the perspective of Gary as a fantasy about an older woman liking him back, the film is equally motivated by the conflicts of Alana’s character. Licorice Pizza, titled after a record store chain, begins as the charismatic Gary’s story of wooing an older woman, but slowly becomes Alana’s story, with the coming-of-age formula applying more to her journey than Gary’s. The age gap between Gary and Alana has been criticized by many viewers, but is fundamental to the internal conflicts and motivations of the two protagonists, whose love story is just as unconventional as their numerous misadventures.
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Licorice Pizza ends with Gary and Alana realizing they don’t want to go on without one another, and accepting that they both have profound impacts on each others’ lives. On one momentous night, Alana runs from a dinner with Licorice Pizza's real-life character Joel Wachs to Gary’s pinball palace, while Gary runs to
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