Review of Punch-Drunk Love (2002) by Melvin W — 07 Aug 2011

Barry: I didn't do anything. I'm a nice man. I mind my own business. So you tell me 'that's that' before I beat the hell from you. I have so much strength in me you have no idea. I have a love in my life. It makes me stronger than anything you can imagine. I would say 'that's that', Mattress Man. .

I can't even begin to describe how much I love Punch-Drunk Love. It's a mesmerizing, original, extremely odd masterpiece from Paul Thomas Anderson. Pudding, frequent flier miles, a harmonium and a sex talk phone line fuel the movie. So that should give you a little idea to how odd a movie this is. Adam Sandler in a role that gives him some freedom. It shows that he can act when he decides to break away from the dumb comedies he is always appearing in. He's so good in his role of Barry Egan that it almost makes me hate Sandler for not doing movies like this more often. A supporting role from Emily Watson is absolutely fantastic as well. Her and Sandler are amazing on screen together.

Punch-Drunk Love is like nothing I have ever seen before and probably will never see again. I consider it to be probably in my top 5 favorite movies ever; I love it that much. All the odd little ins and outs that Anderson uses work so well together. There is a scene in the film where Barry is in his office talking to a girl he just met, while he is receiving  phone calls that are totally tearing his life apart; that is absolutely phenomenal. Scene after scene, weird, almost surreal events taking place that shouldn't work. Yet, somehow they do. It's a romantic-dramedy that doesn't follow the usual formula. It's something completely different from anything else. .

Honestly if you don't like this movie and it's because your an Adam Sandler hater; you need to get over it and look past that. Hate all of his other movies, but here, he's amazing; just like the movie. I'm not a huge fan of Sandler, but I'm a huge fan of his work here. I believe he got robbed of an Oscar nomination just because of his name. Like, nominating him would take away from the Academies credibility.

If your sick of formula driven, predictable romantic-comedies; give this one a watch. It may just blow you away like it did me.