Punch-Drunk Love (Anderson, 2002)

[ayaa1977]

IMDb Link

Synopsis: Barry Egan is a small business owner with seven sisters whose abuse has kept him alone and unable to fall in love. When a harmonium and a mysterious woman enter his life, his romantic journey begins.

What a sweet and beautiful film. This is by far one of the best romantic comedy I have seen. It's sweet, it's quirky, it's humorous, it's sad, but ultimately unforgettable. Barry is played brilliantly by Adam Sandler, and I think I have never seen his that good, ever! He's weird and strange and no one get him, so he throw rage tantrum every now and then but then he puts on the nice guy mask. His relation with his sisters is not sugar-coated. They outnumber him and they want to take over his life, but I don't think they like him or respect him very much. That's why he can't relate to any of them, he is lonely. So he seeks a connection anywhere. First with the phone sex operator, whom he tries to connect with on a human level while all she cares for is scamming him. Then comes Lena, the only girl, perhaps human being who gets him. That is why when he makes that connection he just won't let go. In sweet scene, when they first make out in her hotel room, they make the weirdest exchange:

"Barry: I'm lookin' at your face and I just wanna smash it. I just wanna fuckin' smash it with a sledgehammer and squeeze it. You're so pretty.
Lena: I want to chew your face, and I want to scoop out your eyes and I want to eat them and chew them and suck on them.
Barry: OK. This is funny. This is nice."

That thing he said to her would drive any other girl away screaming. But perhaps because she too is a bit odd, she plays along. Also Emily Watson performance is just amazing in that role, she conveyed Lena mysteriousness and peculiarity  perfectly. That's why it's only logical that he takes that final stand when he felt she could be taken from him, and that is why the ending was just so sweet and beautiful.

P.T. Anderson has made the perfect Rom/Com. This one along with Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind are perhaps the best of the previous decade. I really loved this film that much, it is just almost perfect, and I will always have that iconic silhouette kiss in my mind when I think of scenes that brings joy and smiles to my face.

My Rating: 4.5/5

[ozzylogic]

I really liked this flick.

[fizz]

The score is outstanding too. I love the uplifting, jazzy tunes. Also, the films best scene is the impromptu, soft shoe dance that Sandler does in the supermarket. Memorable stuff.

[ayaa1977]

The score is outstanding too. I love the uplifting, jazzy tunes. Also, the films best scene is the impromptu, soft shoe dance that Sandler does in the supermarket. Memorable stuff.

Oh yeah, the music is excellent. I can't believe I forgot to mention it. But again, the score and soundtracks are always excellent and unique in P.T. Anderson's films, I mean Boogie Night's tracks are just amazing, and Amie Mann's songs for Magnolia are haunting. Also the camera work is brilliant. I remember the crash scene and how he stays on on Emily Watson's Lena's face and not the car crash itself. Also when Adam Sandler's Barry is lost inside Lena's building and how Anderson put us with him inside that maze of a building, I really felt his anguish from the way the camera follows him, those are just two examples. This film keep growing on me the more I talk about it, and I can't believe I haven't seen it for all these years. It is a brilliant flick.

[X.]

Since we're listing favorites, my favorite scene is when Sandler is getting away from the thugs and throws himself across a sidewalk or something. That's what I would do too -- run and jump.

[kaytee]

Since we're listing favorites, my favorite scene is when Sandler is getting away from the thugs and throws himself across a sidewalk or something. That's what I would do too -- run and jump.

Actually that is the only scene I remember as well from this beautiful movie. I remember liking it a lot and people cursing me saying I was mad. Similar reaction when I saw Being John Malkovich at Galleria in Hyatt and was blown away and people said I have lost my mind.

[ozzylogic]

Since we're listing favorites, my favorite scene is when Sandler is getting away from the thugs and throws himself across a sidewalk or something. That's what I would do too -- run and jump.

Actually that is the only scene I remember as well from this beautiful movie. I remember liking it a lot and people cursing me saying I was mad. Similar reaction when I saw Being John Malkovich at Galleria in Hyatt and was blown away and people said I have lost my mind.

It was an ok film, and got very annoying later on.

[shariqq]

I have it on record, I hated it. Except the way Mr PSH says "Fuck".

[madali]

Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002)

"I have a love in my life. It makes me stronger than anything you can imagine."

Since I do not LOVE Adam Sandler and even  though I was not DRUNK, I still didn't want to PUNCH him, in "Punch-Drunk Love". Hmm?

Adam Sandler is an interesting choice in this movie. He's known for playing in roles that any person with good taste will instantly dislike his over-the-top annoying comedy style of acting. But somehow, his character still exists in this movie, but in a darker, more restrainer format. It's not that Adam Sandler is doing an about-face, but that the director is shedding a new light on his usual characters.

He still has his child-like, naïve, bubbling way of interacting with the world, and usually that is source of his movies' jokes, but here it is hiding a troubled personality, lonely, unable to mix well with others, and prone to bursts of physical outbursts of anger.

"Punch-Drunk Love" is an Adam Sandler film, both set apart from his usual films, but at the same time, and essential part of them.

3/5