Top Box Office Movies - Punch-Drunk Love

Punch-Drunk Love (2002) Columbia Pictures
1 hr. 45 mins.
Starring: Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Luis Guzman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mary Lynn Rajskub
Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson

Punch-Drunk Love

Rating:

E-MAIL GIANCARLO DE LISI

Photo: Columbia Pictures

Paul Thomas Anderson delivers an unconventional and lucid journey in 'Punch Drunk Love'. This anti-romantic film sprinkled with themes of decadence, repressed anger and pathological destruction is a true marvel to watch especially if like myself, one lacks the slightest idea what the film is about.

Opening without introductory credits and with an abrupt wide angle shot of Adam Sandler's mentally unstable Barry Egan spooling over a great subplot involving Frequent Flyer Miles, the film immerses into a world of intrigue and inquiry as nothing comes across, as one would expect.

Anderson first came into the circuit as a small time Director in his interesting yet unfulfilling venture 'Sydney' (a.k.a Hard Eight). Yet the cataclysmic film, which propelled him, was that of 'Boogie Nights'. 'Nights' not only turned heads for its' star Mark Wahlberg and nearly gained Burt Reynolds an Oscar, but it also solidified Anderson as a Director who can quell great talent and vision with his witty writing style. 'Magnolia' bordered on the insane but still provided a stellar cast in roles we will likely never see them again in (remember Tom Cruise's mantra in Magnolia?).

In Anderson's current film, he turns more heads with his visceral lensing style and anti-nostalgic score from composer Jon Brion. His score can unequivocally change the entire scene in a film to create absolute anarchy or uncontrollable lust all within the confines of Anderson's tight shots.

The surprisingly short 'Punch Drunk Love' is at best a fairly interesting quasi-experimental film if not only for Sandler's performance. Anderson took a great risk with the casting of the lukewarm Sandler as his main convoluted character Barry Egan. Yet, for all his comedic failings in the past, Sandler's Egan conveys emotional distress and a tortured childhood similar to that of a ticking time bomb. Yet all that can be banished when a match making session ensues and Egan gains interest in a bombshell devilishly played by Emily Watson.

Without giving away too much of the script, all we can say is that after viewing this film, one will think twice about calling a phone sex line and submitting their credit card number over the telephone. Obstacles arise when Egan finally confronts his verbally abusive and torturous sisters and wants to make a life with his new love, yet the phone sex fiasco ensues and the anti-climactic climax unfolds leaving many vexed. Yet, one will understand that Anderson's script need not call for a vengeance filled climax nor a sound resolution.

Calling upon the same method actors Anderson usually casts as Philip Seymour Hoffman and Luis Guzman, his script drives this film into uncharted waters leaving conventionalism behind and simply focuses in 90 minutes upon the wranglings of a couple who seem destined not to be with one another. At times it may come across a truly morbid piece and at times serenely comical, but it is definitely worth a look for those wanting to escape the formulaic crass some deem good cinema. It will not overwhelm you in the way 'Boogie Nights' did, but it will certainly enlighten the viewer as to how different styles in filmmaking are pioneered.

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Giancarlo De Lisi
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