Punch-Drunk Love | | Cast : | Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman | | Director : | Paul Thomas Anderson | | Studio : | Columbia Tri-Star | | Format : | DTS Surround Sound, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Widescreen, Special Edition, Color | | Released Date : | November 01, 2002 | | DVD Released Date : | June 24, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 16, 2005 | | Summary | not very well pulled off | Content
 | I know this film was supposed to come across as dramatic and artistic, but instead it was mostly rather boring. The characters weren't developed nearly enough. They were neither characters that I could keep interest in or relate to. The plot is rather predictable, and not very interesting, which is more tolerable in a film that is action based, but this film was not. Not the worst thing in the world that I've seen, but it has major flaws never the less. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 02, 2005 | | Summary | P.T. Anderson Strikes Again! | Content
| Over the last three weekends I have watched P.T. Anderson's 4 feature films (Hard-Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love). Of the four I found Punch-Drunk Love to be the funniest, the sweetest (in a twisted kind of way), and the most emotionally satisfying. I see the movie as a testimony of the power of a man's love for a woman to focus that man and, while not making him perfect, to make him a more honest and better man. If you find yourself bored by the first half of the movie stick with it as the pace picks up during the second half. The scene where Sandler & Watson kiss in front of the window while people are passing by is great. I also like the fact that the four brothers from Utah really are brothers. One criticism is the soundtrack. After the Boogie Nights and Magnolia soundtracks I expected better from P.T. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 30, 2005 | | Summary | CRAP!!! PLAIN AND SIMPLE | Content
| I think ADAM SANDLER can do drama. I've thought that since I watched the courtroom scene in BIG DADDY. But this was just CRAP!! There is nothing provocative about this movie, it doesn't even make sense. The acting is terrible, there is no chemistry betwwen any of the actors (especially the leads SANDLER and EMILY WATSON). The usually great PHILLIP SEYMOR HOFFMAN is awful. And, what is up with the tiny piano? That's the one part of the fillm that makes absolutley no sense. PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON is one of the most overrated filmmakers in film history. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 27, 2005 | | Summary | Very good | Content
| Adam Sandler often plays characters who do hostile things for laughs. Such is the case in Big Daddy, Mr. Deeds, Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy and Billy Madison. In all of these, his vicious attacks on people and property and his aggressive behavior is seen as something to laugh at. Ha ha, he broke a beer bottle and threatens a opponent in Happy Gilmore. Ha ha ha, he is teaching a child that is not legally his to trip skaters and act like a
slob. All of his horrible acts are under the guise of comedy and many of laugh at them, ignoring the fact they seem to be the angry actions of a violent sociopath. A man capable of seriously injuring someone.
In this film, Sandler plays a man named Barry Egan, a busy executive in a company who shrouds his emotional agony with a smile and uneasy good humor to the actions of those around him. He has seven sisters who all chat loudly and as if the particular person they're speaking badly of is not in the room and he cannot stand how oppressed they make him feel. They think of him as a weird brother and he is a very disturbed man. His inner pain sometimes explodes in rage. This is almost like the Sandler characters in his comedies, and yet things aren't so happy go lucky in the world of Barry Egan.
For example, his sister keeps calling him again and again to go to a party because she does not think he will come. He does, though, and is greeted at the doorway with the sound of his sisters talking about the time he threw a hammer through their family home's patio door. He hears this and backs out, then reenters and backs out again. Barry is unsure of himself, yet he knows he has to enter or he'll be harassed by his sister even more. He enters the apartment, says hello to all of his seven sisters and some relatives and family friends, then comes to reside in the middle of it all. They keep talking loudly and he doesn't know what to do. In an act of violence, Barry runs in a nervous motion over to nearby windows and breaks them all, getting a different kind of attention.
He is kind a child in ways, just like the Sandler characters in comedies like Mr. Deeds and The Wedding Singer. He is too nervous to get dates, so his sister tries to set him up with one of her friends named Lena Leonard, who takes interest in Barry. They decide to schedule a dinner date without telling his nosy sister about it. He goes and tells jokes, makes some conversation, while all the while his face is wet with
perspiration. He excuses himself and goes to the bathroom and reliefs his emotional frustration by destroying the restaurant's bathroom. Barry and his date are asked to leave and he refuses until the owner threatens him with physical violence, to which this innerly aggressive Sandler character can only buckle and say fine to. He is afraid of violence, even though he can destroy inanimate objects well.
But Barry will not be keeping his anger to himself for long. He called up a phone sex hotline and was promised confidentiality with his credit card information, social security number and his whereabouts, but soon discovers that the girl they give him isn't intent on letting him go after the first call. She calls back and asks if he can loan her money in the same seductive voice and he says no. She gets angry and begins to harrass him at work. He can only respond calmly for the moment and she takes this as a sign of weakness and she believes he'll eventually succumbing to her demands if he is intimidated, so she tells her boss and he sends four blond brothers down to beat Barry up and demand more money.
Barry leaves his date happily after sharing a kiss with her and is soon harassed. When threatened, he acts weakly and begins to shout before he is even hit. They get him to withdraw 500 dollars and then chase him as he pants loudly and like a scared child. He is in trouble, he knows, and decides to follow Lena to Hawaii. Once there, he can begin trying to sort this whole ordeal out and develop a relationship with Lena.
Punch-Drunk Love is directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, who is known for his earlier works, Boogie Nights and Magnolia, and who in Punch addresses the anger in Sandler's comedies because he is a watcher of them himself. He sees an unspoken need in all of these Adam Sandler characters and creates a character in Punch-Drunk Love who explains what that need is. Barry's anger is hostile and quick and totally unexpected thanks in part to the direction this film took by Anderson, so he deserves half of the credit.
The other half goes to Sandler, who creates an unnerving and helpless character who is neither right nor wrong in his actions, but always desperate. He does lash out on people in this movie and I don't think it would be polite of me to say who and if they deserved it or not, but i'll give my opinion. Yes, the people whom he hurts do deserve his wrath, which in a way justifies it and somehow strengthens the character Sandler plays in this film. Unlike the angry men in his comedies, his action is required to liberate himself from his oppressors, meaning he gets both the sympathy and the cheering of the audience as he goes about towards the end. Punch-Drunk Love is a serious drama and Sandler plays his role well. I recommend this film, especially if you've enjoyed his comedic, though psychotic, movies in the past. It is a rewarding film that makes one feel good, as all Sandler comedies are meant to, by giving us a character who we may not relate to, but definitely would see eye-to-eye to if we were in his situation. Towards the end, Sandler's anger was actually very much appreciated and that is the highest praise I can give Punch-Drunk Love, a film that actually made me cheer on the choleric nature of a Sandler character.
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| Rating | | | Date | June 05, 2005 | | Summary | The WORST Movie I Have Ever Sat Through!!! | Content
| This would have to be the WORST movie I have ever seen in my life and believe me when I tell you I have watched my share of turkeys in my lifetime. Adam Sandler plays Barry Egan, a Major League Geek who works at a wharehouse. What he actually does there is anybody's guess. Barry witnesses a car crash outside the wharehouse and doesn't even stop to check if the driver is allright and doesn't need Medical Assistance.Then Barry telephones a sex hotline and is looking for some company instead of an erotic fantasy. Barry also has a tendency to become vilolent whenever he is made aware of his shortcomings.Barry is so messed up that he could have easily gotten a job as one of my teachers in High School.Is this guy in dire need of Medication and Therapy or what?Some critics have hailed this movie as a "Masterpice " which totally confounds me. I think it is a "Masterpiece' that people actually invested their hard earned cash to finance the making of this trash. I give this movie 5 stars because thankfully it only lasted about 1 1/2 hours and I got a refund on my movie ticket and a date with the good loking Theatre Usherette!!! |
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