Punch-Drunk Love
Written and Directed by: P.T. Anderson
Starring: Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzmán

A good way to start off this review is probably to say right up front that Punch-Drunk Love is NOT your typical Adam Sandler movie. This isn’t another cheesy Saturday Night Live collaboration that tells a predictable fish-out-of-water story (although it does have a few SNL cast connections aside from Sandler, oddly enough). I’m sure there are plenty of Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison fans who walked out on this one, simply because this movie is a little more artful, mysterious and slow-moving than Adam Sandler’s usual fare. And while I’m as much a fan of some of Adam Sandler’s silly comedies as anyone else, I can easily say Punch-Drunk Love is his most impressive accomplishment to date.

It is also important to note that Punch-Drunk Love was written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the man behind such films as Boogie Nights and Magnolia. Whether he’s getting indirectly slagged for his pretentiousness by Kevin Smith, or receiving heaps of praise from critics for his unique vision, P.T. Anderson certainly knows how to get people talking. Punch-Drunk Love follows through with Anderson’s signature style once again, and while it is slightly more upbeat and straightforward than his past movies, it still has dark elements to the story, and it showcases Anderson’s methodical, pre-meditated camera work to perfection.

Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) is a shy, paranoid guy who works as a wholesaler of strange novelty items in a warehouse. He has 7 sisters, all of whom hassle him constantly about his life, in particular, about getting a girlfriend. He’s extremely insecure, depressed, and he has no one to talk to, which leads him to call a phone sex line simply for conversation. Unfortunately for him, the girl that he talks to formulates a scheme to blackmail him, and when he refuses to pay up, she sends some goons out to rough him up.

Adam Sandler is perfect as an eccentric, nervous guy who sometimes has violent outbursts. Many of his past roles had this same quality to them, but in Punch-Drunk Love his performance is less goofy, toned down, and as a result, much more intense. Emily Watson plays Lena Leonard, a friend of one of his sisters, who falls in love with him and helps him to make sense of his life. She is a realistic yet sympathetic woman who gives Barry the benefit of the doubt. The cast also features Philip Seymour Hoffman, a longtime P.T. Anderson mainstay, who only comes into view towards the end of the movie. He plays the owner of the phone sex service, and not surprisingly, he nails yet another role as a creep of low moral fibre. Although he is underused in the movie, he makes the film’s climax unforgettable.

I have to admit, in general, Punch-Drunk Love is not as strange as I thought it would be. After some of the initial reports I had read, I was ready for some sort of crazy drug-induced journey along the lines of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I had heard that someone experienced a seizure during a screening of the movie due to the on-screen chaos. I had also heard someone refer to the movie as being undeniably filmed by someone who was on cocaine. Perhaps, but other than the little psychedelic colour bursts that separate some of the scenes, the movie is no more bizarre than any of Anderson’s other movies. There are weird coincidences and troubled characters, but that’s as experimental as it gets.

When I look back on it, Punch-Drunk Love had a surprisingly simple plot line. It unravels itself slowly and keeps you guessing all the way through, but by the end it is all laid out in the open. There weren’t any big twists, which is a change of pace after the complexity of Magnolia and all its interwoven storylines. The movie was also very short, just under 90 minutes in fact. At the same time, the movie manages to be refreshingly original and unpredictable. In a way, I think Anderson is silencing his critics by proving that he doesn’t need an overly complicated or lengthy film in order to create a masterpiece.

Punch-Drunk Love is a light-hearted romantic comedy that demonstrates P.T. Anderson’s versatility as a director, and also reveals that there is more to Adam Sandler than meets the eye. It might be a stretch to say Adam Sandler deserves an Oscar for his performance, but his credibility has been definitely been increased a hundred times as a result. Don’t go to this movie expecting to laugh your ass off, just be prepared to see something unique and moving. You won’t be disappointed. — Sean