Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

Winner of the Best Director Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, "this misfit love story of disconnected people trying to find one-another in an antagonistic world is a comedy of discomfort and rage that turns unexpectedly sweet and pure." Adam Sandler gives an amazing and unusual performance as Barry Egan, a socially impaired owner of a small novelty business, who is dominated by seven sisters and is unlikely to find love unless it finds him. When a mysterious woman comes into his life, his emotions go haywire, fluctuating between uncontrollable rage, lust and self-doubt. "Punch-Drunk Love leaves you addled, a little dizzy and overcome by a pleasing, unplaceable sensation." "A romantic comedy as wonderful as it is strange that expands the genre to its absurdist outer limits and makes us believe." From the writer/director of Boogie Nights and Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love is a dark, lovely and unique film experience.
 
"...Sandler like you've never seen him."  Desson Howe, Washington Post
"...quirky and stylish..."  James Berardinelli's ReelViews
"...some of the sweetest, and most heartbreaking, moments in any movie this year."  Jeffrey Anderson, San Francisco Examiner
 


Editor's Note

Paul Thomas Anderson follows 1999's MAGNOLIA with the intensely compelling character study PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE. Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) is a quiet, shy, socially awkward man with an office in an out-of-the-way warehouse. He is dedicated to his job as a wholesale toilet plunger salesman, he keeps a nice apartment, and he is obsessed with special offers on grocery store products. Barry's latest fixation is on frequent flier miles included with the purchase of Healthy Choice foods. Barry wears a bright blue suit, though he doesn't know why. With seven outspoken sisters, Barry is constantly being nagged, questioned, and berated. He is challenged to explain the reasons for his actions, and it eventually becomes clear that Barry cannot control his often-violent impulses, a trait which is increasingly problematic. When a beautiful woman, Lena Leonard (Emily Watson), walks into his life with an instinctive attraction to him, a nonjudgmental attitude, and unconditional love, Barry undergoes a powerful transformation.

Anderson's film is a tour-de-force for which he garnered the Best Director award at Cannes 2002. Set primarily in Los Angeles and Utah, he shoots either bleak deserted spaces (apartment building hallways) or lush, exotic paradises (Hawaii). Aiming for a Technicolor look, the blue of Barry's suit in contrast with Lena's solid pinks, reds, and whites, pops off of the screen. Colorful interludes designed by visual artist Jeremy Blake offer hallucinogenic lapses from the action of the film, while the rapid percussive score by Jon Brion keeps the suspense and the emotional exasperation of the film on a constantly high level.