What is Inherent Vice's IQ Score?

Inherent Vice has an IQ Score of 160/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient framework, placing it in the Masterclass tier. The score breaks down to 41/50 Cognitive Stimulation, 39/50 Educational Value, and 40/50 Craft & Quality.

Is Inherent Vice educational?

Inherent Vice is strong on educational value, 39/50 on TVI's rubric, which covers academic content, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, life skills, and knowledge transfer.

How does TV Intelligentsia calculate IQ Score?

TV Intelligentsia's IQ Score is calculated as round((Cognitive Stimulation × 0.4 + Educational Value × 0.35 + Craft & Quality × 0.25) × 4), scoring titles from 0 to 200 across five tiers: Masterclass (≥160), Stimulating (≥130), Competent (≥100), Passive (≥70), and Numbing (<70). The framework is published at tvintelligentsia.com/methodology/.

Inherent Vice , IQ Score 160/200

Inherent Vice has an IQ Score of 160/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient rubric, placing it in the Masterclass tier.

By Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH·Updated 2026-06-17·Methodology

dramaneo-noircomedy

160/ 200

Masterclass

Measurably increases domain knowledge or cognitive capacity

Score Breakdown

Cognitive Stimulation/50

Educational Value/50

Craft & Quality/50

IQ = round((Cognitive × 0.4 + Educational × 0.35 + Craft × 0.25) × 4) · How we score →

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Why you should trust this score

Scored under Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH

Physician and founding editor. Maintains the adult catalog against the published rubric and reviews the rubric application.

Methodology

Published rubric, v1.2

Formula

round(C × 0.40 + E × 0.35 + Q × 0.25) × 4

Database scale

2,338 titles, version-controlled

TVI Canon

Paul Thomas Anderson →

How we stay independent. We accept no studio money. We pay for our own streaming subscriptions. Our reviewers see no sponsor data, no affiliate revenue, and no screener access in exchange for coverage. More about how we work →

The TVI Take

PTA's 2014 Thomas Pynchon adaptation, the only English-language Pynchon film yet attempted. Joaquin Phoenix's Doc Sportello renders the late-counter-culture Los-Angeles detective in a paranoid-haze register most adaptations would have refused.

Josh Brolin's Bigfoot Bjornsen is rare comedic-character work in service of structural argument. The film rewards rewatching, single-pass impossibility is the actual structural commitment.

Where to Watch

Rent