Review of Punch-Drunk Love (2002) by Cameron M — 16 Sep 2012

After seeing Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love I'm a bit overwhelmed but there's one thing I know for sure now - Adam Sandler has the dramatic chops to portray serious movie characters instead of the moronic buffoons he tends to play.

Like most sincere film lovers I rather hate Sandler for his armada of dim-witted and mean-spirited retarded films but Punch-Drunk Love is not comparable to any of them. It's an art house piece by PTA whose films have a certain enigmatic energy and outbursts of sometimes surrealistic insanity that make them totally unique.

PDL is not an easy watch. It has an unnerving score and lots of Sandler mumbling through his lines. The film is interrupted by psychedelic visuals and abrupt cuts which underline the strange and quirky nature and mood of the film.

The plot is weird as well. Sandler plays Barry Egan, brother of seven sisters, who owns a company for toilet plungers (!), meets Lena (Emily Watson), a colleague of one his sisters and gains free flights for life by tricking a bonus system by buying huge amounts of pudding.

He's also blackmailed, and even physically abused, by phone-sex mafia.

As you can see there's a lot going on and we can understand why Barry is at the edge of a nervous breakdown. This mental state is reflected in the rushed pace, the numerous shots of endless corridors and the colourful psychedelic passages.

Sandler is running a lot which even intensifies his restlessness - and the restlessness of the film.

As I write this I'm beginning to appreciate more and more what PTA actually accomplished and I suspect that Punch-Drunk Love will be one of those films that'll get more and more recognition from me as time goes by and I'll keep it in vivid memory to think through it again and again.