Customer Reviews

Punch-Drunk Love (Single Disc)

5 star:		(106)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(24)
1 star:		(51)

 

 

Paul Thomas Anderson is either hit or miss with me. I liked the Hard Eight, I loved Boogie Nights, but I really thought he lost his way with Magnolia. That isn't to say I can't recognize that he is immensely talented and I'm looking forward to seeing his latest film There Will be Blood. Punch-Drunk Love is a smaller movie about Barry Egan, a business owner who sells novelty items such as stylized toilet plungers. Everything about Barry Egan permeates with a kind of frustrating sadness. His seven older sisters constantly insult him and his life is consistently portrayed as minimalist and disassociated. He is a profoundly lonely man. His bizarre social behavior is awkward but at times spirals into both perversion as well as intensely violent fits of rage. All the while, he is portrayed as the film's protagonist. Anderson is especially delicate in making us understand his eccentricities as justifiable survival mechanisms within the paradigm of his uncomfortable past and nearly pathetic current life. Anderson is careful not to mock or exploit Egan for his faults.

Who could play such a unique and intriguing character? I have to admit, I'm a big fan of Adam Sandler's early comedies. Especially Billy Madison and I don't care who knows about it. I love the silly and stupid humor of Adam Sandler and I firmly believe it is what put him on the map. But he was just a character in those early films and besides those films really are just a series of comedy sketches. It would've made more sense if Billy Madison were placed into a CGI world, a cartoon, or a comic book in the first place. He continued to be silly all along but his characters always carried this dark side that wasn't easy to pinpoint among the poop jokes and slap-stick. He was almost like Adam West's Batman was in the old television show and how we see Batman now in Christopher Nolan's Batman movies is how we see Adam Sandler in Punch-Drunk Love. It is as if Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore were snatched away from the unrealistic comedic worlds of those respective films and aggressively forced to exist in the real world, where every scene isn't necessarily working toward a punch-line. Although, much of Barry Egan's behavior is, at least on the surface, not unlike the behavior of Madison and Gilmore.

The most amazing thing about the whole Sandler dynamic is that he can really act. He stands toe-to-toe with Phillip Seymour Hoffman (an Anderson regular who happens to be an amazing actor) in my favorite scene of the movie, where these two angry idiots just scream back and forth at each other over the phone. The scene makes their later encounter in person an amazing confrontation. Every single scene Sandler is in we tend to feel for the people around him. Knowing what his temper is capable of made me uncomfortable for the people who surround him but especially uncomfortable for Egan himself, who seemingly can't settle into his own skin. He does seem to find some comfort around Lena (Emily Watson), whose relationship with Barry is really what the film is intent on seeing through.

Punch-Drunk Love has a great style. Anderson has a way of making ordinary scenes memorable and important scenes extraordinary. He is a also a great writer and makes even the smallest characters as strong as his leads. The soundtrack is of course the perfect fit as well. In the end and most important of all, Anderson tries hard to allow us the pleasure of watching Barry Egan bring some kind of comfort into his troubled life and I for one was surprised to enjoy it as much as I did.

The film itself is a sorely underrated masterpiece -- but as far as the service is concerned, I believe this was the first time I had ordered a movie online, and I've since done it several more times. Films such as this one (especially the special edition format) are next to impossible to find in chain stores like HMV, Future Shop, Best Buy, et al., so Amazon comes in handy here. My only conceivable gripe would be the cost, but when you struggle for weeks to find these movies in stores, the marginally higher price is worth it.

A short, weird confection of a film, full of wonderful moments, beautiful shots, terrific performances and odd ironies. Adam Sandler strips away all comic overtones to play an angry, dysfunctional, fragile, obsessive compulsive - who we somehow still care for. Emily Watson just about makes us believe she could fall for this emotional wreck.

While there are echoes of the Coen Bothers, this film is unlike any other I've ever seen. A weird and 90% successful mash-up of Hollywood romantic comedy, art-film, exploration of despair, and surreal playfulness. The first time I saw it, it blew me away. The second time, prepared for its wild twists I could appreciate its subtle details more, but also noticed the holes (e.g. Emily Watson's somewhat underdeveloped character - does she willfully not see Sandler's madness, or what makes her love it?). One of those films I look forward to watching yet again sometime.

While I look forward to a blu-ray edition, Sony's superbit DVD does look very, very good.

Right off, I want to say that I'm a huge fan of Paul Thomas Anderson. Boogie Nights and Magnolia are two of the best ensemble pieces I've ever seen. Needless to say, I was quite surprised when I heard that he'd done a small picture, a love story, and that it starred Adam Sandler. But that was only the beginning of the surprises, as I soon found out...

Sandler plays Barry Egan, a quiet, lonely guy who is experiencing a degree of emotional angst about life. He's trying to make his business prosper, dealing with seven nagging sisters (all of whom badger him relentlessly about life, love, etc...), and yet finds himself swinging from sobbing uncontrollably to abject rage from time to time, with no apparent reason. In a lonely moment, he indulges in a phone-sex scam with unfortunate consequences. He's also buying up lots of groceries in an attempt to gain a million free air miles and meanwhile, a romance is blossoming with Lena (Emily Watson), a friend of one of his sisters. With me so far?

The real beauty of this film is in its imagery and simplicity. Barry and Lena are imperfect people trying to connect in an imperfect world. Anderson gives an amazing amount of trust to the actors to portray these people honestly, and it works wonderfully. They are able to convey a universe of emotion with very few words, and the connection seems so real, so tangible, that just watching them is almost like falling in love. The use of music, always excellent in Anderson's films, is just as perfect here and I have to say, the scene in which Barry and Lena walk down a hotel hallway in Hawaii with the song Maui Chimes playing quietly in the background, as he takes her hand and the camera irises in on their hands as they round a corner is quite possibly the sweetest love scene I've never seen. An earlier scene in which the two meet in the same hotel is done all in silhouette, and the effect is brilliant and beautiful. I'm getting all teary-eyed just thinking about it.

Luis Guzman and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, two of Anderson's stock cast of actors, as usual, turn in great performances and it makes me happy to see that Anderson appreciates the quality of these actors as much as many of us do. And though it appears that Sandler has returned to his more familiar genre of movies, he shows us that he really does have the chops to play serious, character-driven roles and with luck, we'll see more performances of this caliber from him in the future.

Punch-Drunk Love, Paul Thomas Anderson's fourth film is a reworking of Amelie for men instead of women. Yes, both films are about lonely, quirky, and socially neurotic people, but Amelie, ultimately, is a far more masterful interpretation of such a person than is this. Punch-Drunk Love's Barry Eagan is an idiosyncratic and quiet guy, but, despite what most might say, was not developed or humanized enough for the viewer to really feel for him or even understand him. Though he lets people walk all over him, this in itself doesn't mean he is very nice or humanistic: he is unable to admit anything about himself and lies to everyone he meets [including the girl he loves] so no one will know how crazy he is. And, instead of dealing with his problems rationally and intelligently, he threatens his enemies with his brute strength. Why is he like this? Well, the film would have you believe his incessant secrecy and catastrophic blow-ups are due to his mean sisters' taunting him [calling him "gay boy"--so scarring!], but the evil sisters are too overdrawn and over-villainized to feasibly accept full responsibility for Barry's social idiocy. In fact, they are so badly portrayed and inhuman that it is surprising that he even becomes exasperated with their antics at all--that is, you would think that after being around them his whole life he would have safeguarded himself against them and, by thirty, would unresponsively witness and endure through their brutality with a knowing indifference. Instead, he gets frightfully nasty [worse than they are]--smashing up windows and beating people with crowbars. Yeah, that is what happens when someone is mistreated their whole life. And the viewers disliking your hero, Paul Thomas Anderson, is what happens when you don't know people at all [but think you do].

Moving on, everyone raves about Sandler's acting in this film, but really he exaggerates and overplays his rage--most of the time when he recites his angry lines, one gets the feeling that his fury stems from something completely artificial. The film would have been better if Barry's character were smarter and could ward off the bad guys with witty and sharp dialogue, as opposed to screaming ridiculous warnings in an overly loud voice. However, the weak writing can only be to blame for the poor acting. Anderson's script-writing abilities are certainly not artistically paralleled with his fantastic directing: he proves completely unable to wrap up the film or add meaning or magnetism to his protagonist--that's a major no no, right? And, at times, he even seems to incorporate quirk for the sake of quirk--the harmonium thrown out of a cab directly after the SUV accident, no? What does that mean? Nothing. That's just the director trying to add substance and mystery to a film that has little. Emily Watson's character is nice, and it is sad that the only reason that Barry seems to like her is because she is the first girl willing to put up with his crap and actually fights for his attention despite his anti-charisma. Noting Barry's uncontrollable rage issue, I feel a little scared for her when and if she ever pisses him off. It's nice that Barry has to channel his anger into standing up for himself and protecting his girlfriend in the end, but if I were that guy at the mattress store--yet another overdone character--I definitely would have called his bluff: is Anderson so delusional as to believe that a professional conman would just surrender to a guy who walks off the street and screams a few loaded words at him? Needless to say, the ending doesn't really work. In conclusion, Punch-Drunk Love is well directed, but, unfortunately, its mediocre-to-poor writing, acting, and horrendous character studies kill it, throw it in a coffin, and by the end, have buried it six feet under.

I am a huge fan of Paul Thomas Anderson's movies, yet for some reason (besides knowing beforehand that this was not one of his amazing Altmaneque multi-character studies and my general skepticism about Adam Sandler as an actor), my gut told me to take a pass when this movie first came out. Since enough time had passed since it came out, and knowing that both Sandler and the movie received critical acclaim, I decided to give it a shot.

The movie starts out in an imaginative manner and thankfully does not neatly tell you everything that you need to know about its leading character (wonderfully played by Adam Sandler in a role that shows a totally different layer of what he has to offer as an actor) nor where the movie will be heading. As most of us know, most of the movies that come out are created by committee, focus groups, commercial tie-ins, and seem to have a contractual obligation to secure a box office friendly PG-13 rating, and simply too many stakeholders. So one has to at least be thankful that PTA, like Spike Jonz (I loved "Being John Malkovich" and liked some of "Adaptation") just to name another young director, has enough clout to work in a relatively independent without having to waver from their vision. It's not everyday that movies like "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia" are allowed to make it to the screen while moving at a slow pace and sometimes clocking in at over 3 hours as is the case with PTA or gets to make a movie as original as "Being John Malkovich" in the case of Jonz.

That about all the positive that I can squeeze out from "Punch Drunk Love", which the exception that PTA manages to tell his story in less than 90 minutes and he has not lost his ability to have a character's words sound like those of real people. His talent is never more evident than in scenes highlighting the awkward dialogue that characters sometimes engage in. Since I hate to give anything away as I hate it when reviewers tell you much more than is needed to get you to make up your mind as to whether to see a movie or not, I will say that Sandler's character is not your typical movie character and I venture to say that there is a little of him in all of us; notwithstanding the character is impossible to get to know and becomes annoyingly close to acting like Dustin Hoffman's character in "Rain Man."

Although the lead character's psychological challenges are universal and could make for an interesting character study in the tradition of most of most of John Cassavette's movies or Martin Scorcese's "Taxi Driver" and "Alice Does Not Live Here Anymore," here we are bombarded with a sameness that feels like watching paint dry. There is some background at the macro level to possibly explain part of his behavior, but it's more frustrating than illuminating. Any scene involving his family is like nails on a chalkboard and that may have been PTA's intent, but although no character has to be likable to be interesting, this bunch almost makes Neal LaButte's characters seem downright lovable. Also, the family's role in Sandler's condition is too simplistic and played way too broadly and don't work on either a serious or comedic level.

Also, this movie was marketed as a love story, there is little love about this movie, especially when you take into account that Sandler's alleged love interest, played the talented Emily Watson. She almost seems like an afterthought and the movie really does not take the time to establish the why or even how of this alleged couple should be or are together. She is essentially the maybe/maybe not "girlfriend" character that correctly frustrates movie actresses who don't want to appear as an appendage to a central character every time a film is greenlighted. Also as hard as Watson tries, Sandler has zero chemistry with her. She ALMOST manages to do this alone, but Sandler's superb acting can't quite stretch far enough to show at least a glimpse of why Watson's character would be drawn to him in any way.

Even more frustrating is a secondary yet central plot involving a credit card and phone sex. The whole concept may have looked good on paper but the execution is so tired and has a second rate soap opera feel. I would compare it to the last of act of "Adaptation." Here the offense is even worse because it seems to contradict the pace of the movie and to me serve as a cop out to create tension and try to use tape to try to bring some cohesiveness to where Anderson's wants to take the plot. I'll take true character development over plot development any minute of the day and I was surprised to see the movie move away from what it was trying to do, albeit unsuccessfully.

I can't believe that I am only giving a movie made by PTA what I think is generous two stars, and mostly due to Adam Sandler's performance, PTA's talent for dialogue, and for continuing to break formulaic cinema mantras. With the exception of this movie, PTA's work to date merits at least 4 or even 5 stars, and I hope that he returns or rather moves forward to continue what should be a long career as a writer/director.

Some may feel that anyone who did not like this movie is either lazy or unsophisticated because he/she may have expect neatly tied up plots and loveable characters, but this is quite a bumper sticker generalization as many of us truly love unconventional movies but just did not happen to like this one. For example some may not have liked "Memento" because it did not fit the mold and it was not told in linear fashion, but those are two of the many reasons why I loved it. PTL's previous movies, as well as some recent foreign successes ("Amores Perros" and "Y Tu Mama Tambien, just to name a couple) are also examples of independent fare that I found to be truly brilliant. In the same fashion that huge budget extravaganzas don't necessarily make for a bad movie, the independent banner does not assure a great one either. If anyone doubts that latter, just try and sit through "Buffalo 66" and get back to me.

you should like this. "punch-drunk love" does for lonely guys what "Amelie" did for lonely gals. both films are about odd, introverted people. both try to show the world as seen by the protagonists: magical and dreamy for Amelie; sterile and nightmarish for Barry Eagan. both are charming and sweet love stories. and strangely, both involve the sex trade! each in its own odd way. pdl is a (slightly) funnier film, though.

each film also makes interesting use of a different spatial dimension. in A, the vertical dimension is very important - many things either fall (A's mother, the goldfish, etc) or are discovered on the ground (the treasure box, torn pictures, boyfriend, etc). in PDL, it's the dimension into the plane of the film that's important - think of the long driveway leading up Barry's shop, or the corridors in the apartment and hotel, or the aiport walkway, etc. it's no coincidence that Leana first emerges from the end of the long driveway, or that Barry runs through the the long apt corridors to steal his first kiss, or that the lovebirds first hold hands as they stroll through the winding halls in the hotel.

the screenplay was very well written, especially for Barry. the conversations were funny just because they are so accurate: this is just the way you'd imagine someone like Eagen would talk. hilarious.

a good film. well worth watching.

allright i'm going to keep this short and simpile. this is by far the worst movie i have ever seen in mankind. the whole time i was watching this movie i was like what was that about. i don't even want to tell you what the movie is about, that's how bad it is. the only good thing you can do with this movie is throw it at the wall and then think to your self that you just wasted your money on a piece of crap..

I've never been a great admirer of Paul Thomas Anderson.
Don't get me wrong. I've loved his films. But they were never
particularly memorable for me.

Hard 8 was great. A good rental. I couldn't get into Boogie Nights
because of the 'hoopla' surrounding it. Tainted my viewing pleasure.
That and Marky Mark.

And then I saw Magnolia. Not only did Anderson get a perfect
performance out of Cruise. But he made a brilliant film. I figured
that was it. The same way I felt after finishing watching Cronenberg's
Spider.

"There's just no way someone can top that. No way."

I just finished watching Anderson's Punch Drunk Love.

He might not have topped Magnolia. But PDL is equally as impressive.
And it just FLIES by. Great story. Great cast. And Sandler is
inspired. Shame he doesn't get more parts like this. But from looking
what's out there. I guess there aren't many to be had.

Anderson has matured visually from Magnolia. PDL exists in its own
very private universe where sharp reds and blues contrast on
labyrinthine whites. Someone that went to film school could describe
it much better than I can. So I won't even try. Very beautiful film.
Has a tender fragility that is always on the verge of exploding into
violence and rage.

Right on the edge. Of everything known.

Highly recommended.

I love Adam, but this is one of the worst movies I have ever
seen in my life.

Thank goodness I only rented it.
I saved my money, so please save yours!

THIS MOVIE SUCKS!!!