User Reviews

Boy, did this movie disappoint a lot of people.....but not me. The "disappointed" were the Adam Sandler fans who expected another "Happy Gilmore"-type character, the kind of goofball the comedian has built a career on portraying. Instead, they got a dark comedy/drama that was anything but the typical Sandler fare. They also got a weird story.

I had the advantage of knowing what to expect, and that helped a lot. Also, I guess I've watched too many movies because I am beginning to like some of these oddball films....and this one certainly qualifies as "odd." I thought the mixture of dark humor, drama, suspense and romance all made for a fascinating film. You just never knew what was coming next, something funny or something horrifying. This is definitely something different and I suspect one of those movies you'll either really like or really hate.

I supposed it helped I like Emily Watson, who is the female love interest in here. No one that nice would keep seeing a wacko like Sandler's character in here, but that's the movies for you. In most cases, you have to suspend your belief.

The storyline, whether pleasant or very unpleasant, got me involved and the camera-work in here was interesting, too. In summary, it's a curiosity piece for those who like something different. Just don't expect a happy, hilarious Happy Gilmore.

Being a big fan of P.T. Anderson's work since I saw `Boogie Nights' (about 3 times in one week at the theater) years ago, I anxiously awaited the release of his latest film. Then I heard it starred Adam Sandler, who is one of my least favorite actors of all time, but even then I figured that if anyone is going to make me not want to start throwing things at Sandler's image, it would be Anderson. After all, he got me to respect Tom Cruise after seeing `Magnolia'. When I finally got to see the film this past weekend (after wanting to see the film for about a year) I wasn't disappointed, and I found that my trust was not misplaced. Anderson took Sandler and turned him into a sad sack who is so psychologically screwed up he would be an analyst's dream. Emily Watson is his perfect counterpart as a classy yet extremely quirky love interest.

The content is pure P.T. Anderson. There are issues that are brought up that are completely bizarre and unexplained, and there are themes that are culled from real-life stories or incidents. Stylistically, it's a slight departure in that it isn't quite as flashy or `slick' as his last two films, but the bright primary colors that pervade the cinematography are absolutely beautiful. And instead of the steady 70's and 80's soundtrack that he usually utilizes, he kept it more simple this time, and just as inspired with the continuous running of `He Needs Me' from the `Popeye' soundtrack. That touch was not only fitting, but also simply brilliant.

I love the work of P.T. Anderson, and was absolutely charmed and endeared to this film. Just like `Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' isn't going to make me watch a Jim Carrey comedy, I'm still going to avoid Adam Sandler comedies like the plague, but I have to say that I respect him for his work in this film. This is the kind of romance film I like, and I recommend it to anyone who doesn't settle for the kind of romantic comedy/dramas that are churned out now by Hollywood.

--Shelly

Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love is a fascinating film. Perhaps 2002's best movie - and one of the best drama/romantic-comedies to ever hit the silver screen.

PT Anderson is an absolute genius. A talented and master film-maker. Boogie Nights and Magnolia, two of Anderson's previous films, were absolutely stunning. Boogie Nights, in particular, was a complete masterpiece. And Punch-Drunk Love is no exception, another great piece of film-making by what is quickly becoming one of the world's top Directors. I can't wait for whatever he does next.

Also, it's difficult to overstate the performance of Adam Sandler. I'm confident this will go down in history as his best work. Ironically, I thought I'd never see this movie because of Sandler starring in it. (I ONLY watched it because of my respect for PT Anderson - and I still waited 3 years to see it!). I enjoy most of Sandler's non-romantic comedies, but I couldn't even imagine him in a romantic movie, I thought he would be horrible. I couldn't have been more wrong. I wasn't prepared for such a great performance, as he stole the show from the opening scene. I can't remember ever being more surprised with the lead actor in a movie. He was simply great, a truly terrific performance.

On the flip side, Emily Watson, as the caring Lena, was wonderful as well. I've got the feeling we will be seeing much more of her, as she had a breakout performance here in PDL. I thought at first that she almost looked too beautiful to put up with the antics of someone like Sandler's character (as she would be in high demand with the males), but then we see the quirky side of her as well, and it all comes together. Great touch.

I recommend this movie to anyone over the age of 25. If you're a teenager who's hoping for a few laughs from Sandler, you're going to be gravely disappointed. Buy the movie, store it in your closet, and pull it out when you reach 30 - and you'll love it! And please, don't let "romantic comedy" scare you (as it does me). I almost REFUSE to watch romantic comedies, but this one is much different. Romance and comedy surely aren't the first things that come to mind when I think of this film. It's a drama full of tension and embarrassment. It's an uplifting, yet shocking movie. To the intellectual mind, I can't recommend it enough.

Thank you for reading!...

JD

One of my old English teachers once asked us about a book, "Did you all like the book? I'm not asking whether you enjoyed it; I don't care. I want to know if you liked it." She was making an important distinction.

I remembered that as I watched Punch-Drunk Love. It's very unusual. The film is set in L.A., but you don't see much scenery indicating that. You see unpleasant things. Adam Sandler's office is long and empty: just seeing him sitting at his desk assaults you with a feeling of loneliness (not because of any sappy music--but because of the set and the camera work). He walks out into a never-ending warehouse; it feels empty, brutal. He exits the warehouse and you see another unending sight: the row of garage-like doors of all the other warehouses. It feels like it lasts forever, this row of doors, and when Adam gets to the end of it, he looks out onto a long, straight, industrial, empty street. It looks HORRIBLE, but why? Nothing is happening on the street, there are no gruesome sights, no particular signs of squalor or anything, and yet you feel repulsed, hopeless, alone. Then, out of the distance, a car whizzes by, nothing unusual, but it feels abrasive. With no relation at all to the plot, just as it appears, this car hits something and explodes, its remains slide off into the distance and you see nothing more of it. It's trivial. But you feel like the movie is being hostile toward YOU, the viewer.

Yes, that's the best way I can put it: you feel like the movie is being hostile toward YOU. A few minutes later, a truck flies by, again very abrasively, and drops a harmonium in front of Adam Sandler. There is no rhyme or reason to this, it just happens, and it's all very unpleasant.

About a third of the way through the video, my phone rang. I told my friend what I was watching, and she asked how it was. I told her, "I can't decide. I'm not sure I like it." I kept watching. At the end, I understood. What I had meant to tell my friend was that I wasn't enjoying it. And I wasn't meant to.

The film starts out with a very bad point in Adam Sandler's life. He is neurotic, you want to kill his sisters even though they're not malicious per se, he is lonely, his life is unpleasant. This movie is trying to do more than TELL you it's unpleasant, and even more than SHOW you it's unpleasant: the movie is trying to get inside you and make you FEEL it. You seriously feel the abrasiveness of every image, every sound, every character; you feel accosted by it. When there's silence, it's brutal silence. When there are sounds, they're brutal sounds. Images and movements are abrasive. Until Adam's life begins to flourish: then you get pretty sounds, pretty colors--as the viewer, you're let off the hook, too.

So when it was over, I was in amazement. How many movies succeed at this, at taking you WITH them to the discomfort the character is living? The cinematography, the sound work, the script--none of it is any accident. When his life isn't going well, you FEEL it. Did I like the movie? Very much. And if you appreciate a very unusual take on an old topic, you will too.

I caught this at the New York film festival and my expectations were about as low as they could be. I was never a huge Adam Sandler fan, and I hadn't ever taken a liking to PT Anderson's other films. I thought that Magnolia was pretty flimsy writing-wise, and I also thought that it got way too much undue attention when it came out.

I couldn't believe how great Punch Drunk Love was. It seems to be the polar opposite of Magnolia. Where Magnolia was sprawling, messy and often generic, Punch Drunk Love is short, tight and completely fresh. It reminded me of Fargo, in a way. It centers on a very small cadre of characters, it's incredibly focused, and it creates its own world for those characters to live and move around in.

It's been mentioned here before, but the art direction is stunning. I haven't seen such memorable visuals since The Royal Tenenbaums. In a grocery store scene, the items are stacked vertically by color (echoing the color bars that appear periodically between scenes), making the scene appear otherworldly. Other sets are bare of color or distinction. Sandler's love interest in the film (played by Emily Watson) lives in a maze of white corridors. Somehow, every "place" in the film has its own character and association. Even the characters become associated with particular colors.

The movie ends up being genuinely romantic while deviating completely from the very stale paradigm for romantic comedies of the last decade: Watson's character pursues Barry Egan; their inability to hit it off from the start is more character-driven and psychological than situational. Through the use of bizarre props and surreal scenes, the anxiety and frustration of Barry Egan becomes totally absorbing and affecting.

This is a wonderfully directed film. There isn't an extraneous moment. The visual style and pacing are particularly great. There's an interesting subtext in the film about communication - enormous background noise while characters are on the phone, Barry Egan's sisters' voices create this wall of noise (all voices making fun of him), telephones figure predominantly, the opening scene is completely bereft of background noise or music. There are a lot of interesting things to consider when it comes to the theme of communication and how sound is handled in the film.

That said, I'm already cringing at how most people are going to react to this. The Adam Sandler fans might find it too weird. People who liked PT Anderson's other movies might find it too pretensious. I was thrilled to have my low expectations completely overturned. This movie is great.

We've come to expect a lot from Paul Thomas Anderson. After his twin masterpieces "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia", not to mention the sure-handed and satisfying "Hard Eight", we knew he was a filmmaker of skill and magic. So when it was announced that the next PTA film would be a 90-minute romantic comedy starring (Gasp!) Adam Sandler, I was, for one, not worried. This man had taken Mark Wahlberg and turned him into someone we could be proud to watch onscreen. He cast icon Tom Cruise, gave him the character of Frank "T.J." Mackey, and directed the actor to one of the most repulsive, offensive, and inspired performances of the "Top Gun" star's career. So, I was pretty confident in his ability to handle the star of "Little Nicky". But, boy, I still wasn't prepared for what I saw. Sandler just wasn't good, he was INCREDIBLE. I couldn't believe my eyes-here was the man behind "Eight Crazy Nights" creating a completely realized, utterly human character with a studied, nuanced performance. Many have commented on the fact that Barry Egan, Sandler's character, is not that different from his previous incarnations. Socially akward and prone to explosive violence, Barry might just be the key to explainging Sandler's Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore. The character helps shine a light on the inner torment of those man-children.

The plot is a bit more complicated than your usual romantic-comedy fair. First off, it's really not a comedy. Second off, the two major players-Sandler and Emily Watson as the beautiful and mysterious Lena Leonard-both have quirks and tension that ordinary movie characters who fall in love don't in movies today. Barry has been terribly scarred (perhaps irreperably) by the constant torment and abuse of his seven sisters. There are several scenes where he bursts into destructive rages for no real reason-to sum it up, this guy has problems. Lena seems to have some of the same hurt simmering under her, but she controls it and accepts Barry for who he is, eventually coming to a stage where she understands him better than anyone truly ever has. Much of "Punch-Drunk Love"'s story is how Egan manages to regain control of himself and experience truly human feelings for the first time. Lena is his salvation-through his devotion to her he saves himself.

The film's other specifics are a bizarre, but extremely original mix of details. Barry is a toilet-plunger salesman. He one day wanders onto a loophole in a snack-foods sponsored contest that would allow him to get enough frequent flier miles to never have to pay for a plane ticket again. First, however, is the nasty business with a small-time porn entrepeneur in Utah who is trying to extort a large sum of money from Barry, using the company's "Four Blonde Brothers" to threaten the (for a time) hapless Egan. The film is so utterly free that to reveal how these disparate elements come together would ruin the movie. Much of the joy of "Punch-Drunk Love" is that you never truly know where the movie is going to go next.

The performances are uniformly excellent. Philip Seymour Hoffman is "the heavy", but he puts a small line of tragedy in his character. Dean Trumbell seems fierce, but a telling look at his "empire" reveals he is all bark and no bite. The always-great Luis Guzman is Sandler's well-wishing co-worker, Lance, who is constantly supportive of Barry despite his doubts about what is really going on inside his boss's head. And Emily Watson is appropriately fascinating and quietly alluring as Lena, who drops her car off one day and admits the next she did it just to meet Barry.

The film might seem weird and violent, but this is truly one of the sweetest movies I have seen at a long time. At its core, "PDL" is decent, honest, and beautiful. It is reminiscent of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", which, despite its rampant drug use and other disturbing subject matter, was a film that had a heart of gold. One of the best of 2002, "Punch-Drunk Love" will be seen in the future as a shining moment for all involved. Here's to hoping it will also be seen as the beginning of Adam Sandler's serious film career.

One of the reasons I would recommend 'Punch-Drunk Love' is Adam Sandler. For the first time he is the best thing in a movie and I must admit he does a tremendous job with his character, named Barry Egan. He has the same aggressive outbursts he has in his comedies but here they fit his character and the story. He seems like a pretty normal guy although you see something in his face, something ready to come out, and when it comes you can almost understand it.

The story is a love story, in a way. The love interest is Lena (Emily Watson). They are both different and therefore there is a chance it could work. Another part of the story involves a sex line that Barry called. They have his credit card number and everything and force him from time to time to donate money. How this story goes from there is not for me to reveal but it gives us some very unexpected moments.

That is one of the other good things in this movie. Most of the time you don't know and can't even guess what will happen next. It is another reason to see this movie, although I do think it has some boring moments as well. The story develops slow and that makes it a movie not all people will like. If you like Adam Sandler-movies like 'Mr. Deeds' or 'Big Daddy' I think you should skip 'Punch-Drunk Love'. If you like other movies from director Paul Thomas Anderson I am not sure. I liked 'Boogie Nights' and 'Magnolia' a lot better, but you might want to give it a chance.

This is a great movie (my opinion) and here's why...it shows two characters falling in love and acting stupid. They don't have all the right things to say to each other; they get scared; they walk away and wish they had said something, anything other than what they did/didn't say; they get embarrassed, they giggle and snort...and the list goes on.

If you don't like this movie, it's OK. I think this is the kind of movie that is sorta just sitting there, waiting for the "right" people to see it and nod their heads and smile and say, yes, this is how it is. It's quiet and doesn't scream for people to pay attention to it; it's just there. It doesn't make any promises and it doesn't need to.

The storyline may veer from "real" life, but these two characters pretty much get it--what people do when they are very much "in love" with someone.

I saw Punch Drunk Love at the Gothenburg film festival today and I was totally overwhelmed by it. I had really looked forward to it since I love Paul Thomas Anderson's earlier films. Magnolia is still among my top five favourite movies ever and my expectations were therefore almost too high. I must admit I was sceptical of Adam Sandler playing a serious part. But he makes fantastic interpretation of his character Barry Egan, a small business owner pushed around by his seven (!) sisters who's miserable life takes a turn when he meets love in Emily Watson's character. Watson makes a beautiful portrait of the mysterious and lonely Lena who falls in love with Barry.

The movie isn't just well acted, it's also magnificent to watch. The camerawork is exquisite and Anderson really shows of his visual talent. Every frame in the one and a half hour film could be frozen and displayed as a piece of art. But the most impressive thing in the film is still Adam Sandler. Every word, expression and nuance is perfect and genuine. If this doesn't deserve an Oscar nomination I don't now what will. His performance is superior to the last five winners.

Punch Drunk Love is the way a movie should be. It's the way you wish all movies were like and I wish I could hang it on my wall. The poster will have to do.

Peculiar film, to say the least, about a deeply, psychologically troubled working man named Barry Egan (played Adam Sandler in a refreshingly off-type dramatic role) who is caught in a weird web of love and extortion, all the while trying to keep himself from completely losing it. His character is clearly one whom the audience is meant to observe rather than empathize with. However, PTA employs many incredible camera techniques (whether it be unconventional camera angles, his use of long takes or zoom and dolly shots) to at least give us a glimpse of the unease and emotional turmoil Barry experiences. Weird and yet strangely affecting, this a well-acted and directed flick.

Not only Adam Sandler's best performance, but one of the greatest movies you will ever see. Start to finish I never wanted this film to end and it was a joy watching this story unfold. Barry Egan is a complex character with a more than fulfilling story arc.

Another little weird film from PTA but great one. You can get in shoes of Adam Sandler in this one and understand his anger and conufusion. I love Adam Sandler in this role because he just showed he can act in serious roles and not just dumb comedy. Sequel to Punch Drunk Love : Adam Sandler goes to anger managment and Jack Nicholson cures his agressive behaviour.

One of my top five favorite movies.

While everyone gushes over Sandler's interesting performance (and it definitely is), I think Watson plays one of the most interesting characters I've seen in a while.

I am not a big Adam Sandler fan, but I watched Punch-Drunk Love because I had heard nothing but good things about it. I was expecting a good movie, but not one this wonderful. It is a beautifully filmed movie, the score is gorgeous and just adds to the scene especially in the romantic parts, the black humour is very funny and some parts are genuinely touching. The script is funny, poignant, thoughtful and clever and the story is always interesting. The acting is much better than I anticipated. I knew Phillip Seymour Hoffmann was going to be brilliant, as he nearly always is, and he is, and Emily Watson is both believable and beguiling. The most pleasant surprise is Sandler, as I've said I am not a fan, he has done some stuff I like but I can find him irritating. Here though, his performance has moments when it is quirky but mostly it is beautiful and understated, not only is Punch-Drunk Love Sandler's best film in my opinion but alongside Reign Over Me it is a contender for his best performance. In conclusion, just wonderful. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I should point out that the summary above is not exactly "glowing" praise.

PTA strikes me as both overly intellectual AND insufficiently challenging to be called a great artist or a brilliant filmmaker, but I confess that this film does a terrific job of highlighting the director's strengths. (He is pretty young, after all.)

What PTA really seems to bring to his work is a sense of "compassion for the pathetic." While Boogie Nights was a feel-good hack-job in which it is difficult to care about ANY of the morons he depicts, and Magnolia was an overdrawn "angst" film in which the most natural response is to despise the characters, Punch Drunk Love did a reasonable job of making Barry Egan into a "real" person. He is pathetic, lovable, and unfulfilled through no fault of his own.

I definitely got the impression that a good bit of the film was occupied by filler. The harmonium's introduction adds nothing, the color blocks are not presented in any coherent way, and the brief conversion of Egan into a superhero seems to be severely out of place.

HOWEVER...

This is a completely allegorical and poetic picture. The meaning of the film is very uplifting. Despite the numerous failures and flaws of our protagonist, there is a glimmer of hope that he might somehow find happiness--in fact, perhaps the entire story is about the first successful dating experience PTA had.

Generally speaking, I'd rank Hard Eight above this one, but given that PTA lacked a great deal of directorial control over that film, I'd call this the best job that he personally has pulled off so far.

More than anything, I appreciated the technical approach. The fact that almost every "rule" of cinematography and/or editing is broken repeatedly in this picture makes it pretty clear that it is not to be taken too literally.

More filmmakers should jump at the chance to break the rules when it truly contributes to the structure and meaning of their work--I'd rather see the back of Sandler's head and non-literal interpretations of physical space in this kind of film than see a sterile and clinical "presentation" of the events depicted.

7 out of 10.

This is an interesting but widely overpraised film starring Adam Sandler in one of his best performances. Emily Watson does give him needed aid in this movie. The other characters in this movie like the sisters and Philip Seymour Hoffmann (in a rare misfire performance) are so obnoxious that you don't to watch parts of the film. An idiotic subplot almost drowns the movie down completely. Overall, you probably will want to see this movie only once.

Paul Thomas Anderson created a poetic masterpiece with 'Punch-Drunk Love'. This film portrays the story of a man who escapes his misery in a -newly found- self esteem and with love.

It was an absolute joy to see Adam Sander in a role of such depth and complexity. Philip Seymour Hoffman adds a little bit of his unlimited talent to the show in a role that defined the ending of the movie.

'Punch-Drunk Love' is the best movie the Coen brothers never made. It is smart and rewarding. The pleasant surprise of 2002.

10/10

To start this of I have to admit that i watched the movie in the (dubbed) German version which might be a reason why I could not catch on to this particular piece. One thing is for sure Adam Sandlers acting is superb although I cant understand why this one is supposed to be his best performance. I think he is way better in "Click" an even better in "Spanglish". If you are into good cinematography this should be your choice because it really has some great pictures in it. I personally disliked the psychedelic(very colorful)bits in between different scenes though-I guess thats a matter of personal taste. The whole story kind of has a slow pace and is in some parts utterly unrealistic (the telephone thing) and the Soundtrack is quite annoying from time to time.I think this supposed emphasize the Main Character's state of mind but I feel that it made the Movie hard to watch. I you want to watch a good movie of this Director go watch "Boogie Nights"

Adam Sandler is known for his wacky, flaky, and sometimes over the top style of comedy. With films like Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, and Big Daddy under his belt, one would think that he would stick with what he's got. Sandler has shown us a new side of him with his performance in Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch Drunk Love.

Sandler plays Barry Egan, an ambitious man who owns and operates his own business. He sells his own plungers. One day after finishing a phone call with a food company, he walks outside to find a tiny piano someone dropped on the side of the road. He runs after it and puts it in his office. Then shortly after he meets Lena Leonard (Emily Watson) who needs help with her car. Being the nice guy he is, he complies.

Barry Egan is a great guy. He is nice and is trying his best to do well. With seven sisters, he faces the brunt of their vicious wrath that they unintentionally place upon him. With embarrassing stories of growing up and how they teased him, Barry has a little built up anger that he uses here and there, like his sister's sliding glass door. Barry means well, but man can he do damage.

When lonely one night, Barry calls a sex line for just someone to talk to. What he ends up getting himself into is a huge scandal with the operator of the sex line due to the fact that he gave his credit card number to them and everything they need to know to get money from him. On top of this, Barry has found a way to cheat the food company he talks to in the beginning. The deal is getting free frequent-flyer miles due to a deal the company has on all of their items...including individual pudding cups. Barry pounces on the opportunity by buying as many 25 cent cups as he can so he can fly anywhere for free.

With an interesting plot and a great performance by both Sandler and Watson, this film is bound to make an impact. Sandler's more dramatic side shows, giving us a glimpse at the real actor behind all of the goofy nonsense we have come to love over the years. It was really refreshing to see a comedian do a really good job acting in a serious role. It reminded me of Jim Carey is The Truman Show. Serious, yet still able to crack a joke, much like Sandler in this film.

Anderson is no newcomer when it comes to movies. He has written and directed a couple of gems. Boogie Nights and Magnolia are two he both wrote and directed and came out great. This movie is no different. It's unique style with interesting choices for music give the picture an edge.

If Sandler keeps landing roles like this, he could potentially put himself in position for an Oscar nomination, much like Bill Murray did with Lost in Translation. That's not to say he shouldn't make his regular comedies, but a nice blend would be great. Punch Drunk Love is a knockout!

A wonderful delightful movie, I was glued to the screen from the beginning to the end. Perky, sweet, honest, rough, weird, cringy, beautiful. Sandler's performance surprised me many times and in the film lie many hidden truths about life, love, passion and what it means to be(come) a happy person.

I think this film is not for everybody. If you can't get into it immediately, give it a try. If you cannot enjoy it at all, don't judge it. It is not for everybody, but for those it is for, they thrive on it a lot.

I was never a big Adam Sandler fan, nor did I enjoy director Paul Thomas Anderson's prior hit "Magnolia" as much as critics raved. So I popped this movie in expecting no more than something to kill 90 mins or so.

I was blown away from the opening scene:

Picture a guy (Sandler) in a comically blue suit sitting in a creepy concrete room politely arguing on the phone about an airline promotion. The camera slowly surveys the absurdity and desolation of this man's seemingly pointless little life. Then things suddenly, violently and mysteriously take a turn. I knew from the first 5 minutes that this would be an exceptional film.

What follows is something like "Peewee's Big Adventure" all grown up and directed by someone like Godard. And you gotta love that stupid blue suit which he never changes.

With vast, absurd sets & bizarre deadpan humor reminiscent of the classic "Joe vs the Volcano" and vivid, oddball characters like in "Amelie", and with slow, voyeuristic camera work like in the Swedish "Songs from the 2nd Floor", this film achieves the perfect recipe for surreal comedy. You never know what to expect, and your bizarre expectations are never disappointed. I would compare this to other excellent offbeat films like Miranda July's "The Future", Emir Kusturica's "Arizona Dream" (an early Johnny Depp classic), anything directed by Jim Jarmusch ("Night on Earth", "Ghost Dog", "Coffee & Cigarettes") and particularly, my favourite quirky romcom of all time, Vincent Gallo's "Buffalo 66".

As with all the picks I just mentioned, "Punch Drunk Love" is a dreamlike story (not 'dreamy' but 'dreamLIKE') where events and images may seem random, but in the end it all comes together with a powerful & very satisfying message. The whole time, the film never loses its comedic edge, and although there aren't any big gags or witty punchlines, the strangeness of situations & characters had me laughing out loud in almost every scene.

If you like unusual comedies, if you have an eye for art & an ear for poetry (not to mention the perfect musical score--pay close attention to the effect it has), don't hesitate to watch this movie. It made a Sandler as well as Anderson fan out of me.

On a whim, I picked up Punch Drunk Love at Movie Gallery…it was a free movie, and despite most of the things I've heard about it, I still wanted to give it a shot and at least see a movie I've been meaning to see for quite awhile. After pushing stop on my DVD player, I instantly realized what the movie did well, and where it fell short.

The major flaw behind the movie, aside from the strangeness, (but lets face it, are our lives really so normal in the first place?) was that it simple tried to accomplish too many tasks and pull itself in too many different directions…without ever fully completing one. Probably the only section of the story that actually finished itself was the pudding loophole, as things tended to CONCLUDE. The newly found love between Adam Sandler and Emily Watson was never fully developed to allow the viewers to fully connect with the characters and their own connection towards one another. Instead, we see many scenes of utter awkwardness between the two, and in the end, they're magically in love.

However, on the flip side, Adam Sandler's character was very well developed and played out well, but I believe a run-of-the-mill American viewer isn't going to completely understand him or why he does the things that he does. With an extreme low self-confidence, he finds himself lashing against the world in all kinds of ways. The character himself is very deep and interesting, but due to the containing that the script called for, I don't think a lot of people will fully understand Sandler's character.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman absolutely rocks as a "villain", and if his part could have made more of an impact on the complete story, there may have been a little more substance in the end of it all. He is gradually becoming one of the actors that are placed very highly on my list.

In regards to the writing and directing of the film, Paul Thomas Anderson is of course the source of the "oddness" that may lead to the film disagreeing with viewers. He has a very unique style with pulling the camera far back and surveying the scene, even if its just a slummy area of LA. The writing was not on par at all with Magnolia, but I'm not going to hold it against him. If he just kept writing movies like that, we'd get nowhere in the movie industry, so I guess it is cool to see him branching off like this. Interesting shots are taken, and the use of the actors in front of a bright background is used to an extreme, which was cool, but also hindered the film as the repletion started to get annoying.

If the movie had pulled away and focused on one area, rather than spreading itself too thin, I believe it could have been better. But nevertheless, I still enjoyed it…to an extent. On a whim, I picked up Punch Drunk Love at Movie Gallery…it was a free movie, and despite most of the things I've heard about it, I still wanted to give it a shot and at least see a movie I've been meaning to see for quite awhile. After pushing stop on my DVD player, I instantly realized what the movie did well, and where it fell short.

The major flaw behind the movie, aside from the strangeness, (but lets face it, are our lives really so normal in the first place?) was that it simple tried to accomplish too many tasks and pull itself in too many different directions…without ever fully completing one. Probably the only section of the story that actually finished itself was the pudding loophole, as things tended to CONCLUDE. The newly found love between Adam Sandler and Emily Watson was never fully developed to allow the viewers to fully connect with the characters and their own connection towards one another. Instead, we see many scenes of utter awkwardness between the two, and in the end, they're magically in love.

However, on the flip side, Adam Sandler's character was very well developed and played out well, but I believe a run-of-the-mill American viewer isn't going to completely understand him or why he does the things that he does. With an extreme low self-confidence, he finds himself lashing against the world in all kinds of ways. The character himself is very deep and interesting, but due to the containing that the script called for, I don't think a lot of people will fully understand Sandler's character.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman absolutely rocks as a "villain", and if his part could have made more of an impact on the complete story, there may have been a little more substance in the end of it all. He is gradually becoming one of the actors that are placed very highly on my list.

In regards to the writing and directing of the film, Paul Thomas Anderson is of course the source of the "oddness" that may lead to the film disagreeing with viewers. He has a very unique style with pulling the camera far back and surveying the scene, even if its just a slummy area of LA. The writing was not on par at all with Magnolia, but I'm not going to hold it against him. If he just kept writing movies like that, we'd get nowhere in the movie industry, so I guess it is cool to see him branching off like this. Interesting shots are taken, and the use of the actors in front of a bright background is used to an extreme, which was cool, but also hindered the film as the repletion started to get annoying.

If the movie had pulled away and focused on one area, rather than spreading itself too thin, I believe it could have been better. But nevertheless, I still enjoyed it…to an extent.

I had to wait over a month after seeing Punch Drunk Love to write this. It took that long to get the unparalleled hatred out of my system. Still, this is easily the worst film I have ever sat through (Congrats Island of Dr. Moreau...you're now #2!) I've never walked out of a movie, but it almost happened here. This movie is annoying, pointless and well, stupid. The characters don't have depth; they're crazy. There is a difference. It showed me nothing about life. Never made me laugh. Not that I could understand the dialogue under the migraine-worthy music. Romantic? Realistic? God help us all if this is reality. Personally, I'm using this movie as a new standard of badness. "Oh yes, it was boring, but it wasn't 'Punch Drunk' boring." I also think it may be a good test of sanity. I'm sorry, but if you liked this movie, I'm worried about you. Identifying with these characters is not for the well adjusted among us. For everyone else, 90 minutes of dental work would probably be more pleasant than this movie going experience.