Review of Punch-Drunk Love (2002) by Nic P — 01 Mar 2011

There is a feeling you sometimes get when watching a movie that separates itself from all other emotion simply because it's so powerful and you know it was just a movie that caused you to experience it.

Such is the case with Punch-Drunk Love.

What is so terribly sad to me is that so few will be able to appreciate what this movie has to offer us. It is so complex in it's simplicity. It is a master of it's characters. And it ultimately has complete control over it's audience.

Let's give some credit to the star, Adam Sandler, who is a genius when it comes to the emotionally handicapped. But for this movie, he had to add socially handicapped into the mix. When it was over, I had to remind myself that this was the same man who played Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison. His performance is nothing short of absolutely amazing. I understood and completely sympathized with his character. When he was sad, I was sad. When he was happy, so was I. At points, it was almost painful to watch because of similarities to someone I know.

I recommend this movie to everyone I know (and don't know for that matter) with a couple recommendations:

-This IS NOT a group movie. Watch it alone or with one other person.

-Give a whole 95 minutes of your attention to it. I can promise you that if you don't follow along every step of the way, you will be one of the viewers who doesn't like it/doesn't get it.

Enjoy!