Punched Out
Written: Jul 17 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Not your typical Sandler movie.
Cons: NOT your typical Sandler movie.
The Bottom Line: Not your typ-... just kidding.
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| dancingpotato's Full Review: Punch-Drunk Love |
I’ve always been an Adam Sandler fan; I’m not going to say that I always thought he had it in him to be a brilliant actor (because that would be pretentious and probably false in any case) but I always enjoyed him for what he was. When I learned that he was doing a “serious” movie with “serious” director Paul Thomas Anderson, I didn’t know what to think. Perhaps it was because I hadn’t actually seen any of Anderson’s work… but I did eventually see his films and the anticipation grew. Then the movie was released and didn’t come anywhere near he, so the anticipation level rose to heights I thought were impossible. To say that I was expecting a lot from this movie is an understatement. I was expecting this to blow my mind. And it did.
Barry Egan (Sandler) is a plunger salesman; he’s a bit of a shy guy, a workaholic who gets to work hours before it even opens because he’s got no other place to go. Barry has seven sisters, all of whom constantly call him to insult him and remind him what a failure he is. One of his sisters presents him to Lena (Emily Watson), a co-worker of hers, with little expectations that any good is going to come out of it, since she spends most of the conversation insulting Barry. It’s a shock to her (and especially to Barry) when Lena actually takes a liking to the guy.
Meanwhile, Barry has discovered a loophole in a promotion for a brand of food; by purchasing three thousand dollars worth of pudding cups, it would be possible to accumulate enough air miles to never have to pay for a ticket again. He’s also made a call to a phone-sex line that turns awry when the girl on the other line asks for some money and Barry refuses to give it to her; he ends up being chased by four blond brothers and their boss (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). Not to mention that Barry has a bit of a rage problem stemming from his sisters’ constant verbal abuse. Barry (like many of Sandler’s previous characters, in fact) has sudden outbursts of rage throughout the film.
Punch Drunk Love is a bizarre film. It takes the form of a romantic comedy, but don’t expect Meg Ryan material here. At one point, Barry softly murmurs, “You are so beautiful. I love you so much I want to smash your face in with a sledgehammer”. Not quite Sleepless in Seattle, is it? Some completely random (or seemingly random) stuff happens; at one point, a cab drops a piano/accordion (there’s a name for it… I just can’t be bothered to look it up) on the sidewalk? Why? Well, that’s for you to find out.
The film could easily be passed off as another quirky-yet-inane comedy; PTA’s use of vivid color and odd soundtrack choices (at one point, a song from Altman’s disastrous Popeye musical plays) as well as the casting of Sandler could easily kill a lesser film. The film, upon viewing, comes off as everything but quirky. There’s a layer of humanity here that you couldn’t think of getting from Adam Sandler. The character of Barry is so rich, so much deeper than anything Sandler (and many, many actors in films from 2002) has ever done that the film has a kind of hypnotic grace.
I like the character of Barry so much that I could drone on and on about him for days. He’s not terribly different from the other characters Sandler’s portrayed; he too would fall into the category of ‘loveable loser’. What sets him apart is his darker side, the side that was off-camera in Big Daddy. As we watch him, we know that he is acting… yet we don’t want to believe it. Sandler gives the character tics and stutters at all the right places; it’s a brilliant performance that borders on the naturalistic. I highly doubt that Sandler will ever top this (and if he does… I’ll probably die). Of course, I identified a lot with the character of Barry. I see a lot of myself in him, and maybe that’s why the film had such an effect on me. I’m not as thoroughly disturbed as Barry (thankfully) but nonetheless, I knew how he felt like and I suppose that’s an important thing to consider in my criticism.
The film is a technical marvel as well; the colourful cinematography, the bizarre score (which uses a lot of percussion and fits the film’s mood to a T) and PTA’s usual directorial flourishes abound in the film. It’s not necessarily a happy film, but it sure looks like one. Barry wears a wonderful bright blue suit day in and day out; it’s not something new, but it seems fresh when seen through PTA’s lenses.
The supporting cast, though not nearly given as much attention as Sandler, is perfect. Emily Watson is superb as Lena; even though Watson is not the most attractive woman in show business, there’s a sweetness that she brings to the character that transcends all the beauty in the world. Luis Guzman plays Lance, Barry’s co-worker. It’s a role without much artifice to it; it’s the kind of role that Guzman does well, and in that respect he’s well cast. Phillip Seymour Hoffman cameos as the owner of the phone-sex line; he’s barely in the movie but he manages to make the best of what he’s got. His fixation with “Shut up” is simply hilarious.
The film’s romance is wonderful; it’s refreshing to watch a warts-and-all romance that seems believable and not simply pulled out of nowhere (I’m thinking chiefly Williams and Plummer in The Fisher King, which was a good movie that contained an annoying oh-so-quirky romance). There are strong hints of this being Barry’s first love, and all the signs of firs love are there. The first kiss is as memorable a scene as anything else I’ve seen this year.
The movie is like a collection of wonderful scenes, from Sandler’s soft-shoe in the supermarket to his scene in the closet with his brother-in-law to the beautifully shot silhouette scene in Hawaii that adorns the film’s poster. It’s a film that’s got a story to tell and that seems eager to tell it, a rarity these days. It’s saturated with the joy of film. It’s the rare kind of film (like The Royal Tenenbaums or The 400 Blows, for example) that I would be comfortable with watching for the rest of my life, just because there’s so much life to it.
Punch Drunk Love is a wonderful, poetic, emotional, romantic film. It’s the kind of movie that just makes me happy to have seen it. I came out of the film in a daze; there may have been better films this year, but none of them made me this ecstatic. That alone should say everything there is to say.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dancingpotato
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Location: Jonquiere, Quebec, Canada
Reviews written: 75
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About Me:
Sporadic is sexy, baby.
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