Punch-Drunk Love Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) is a small business owner with seven sisters whose abuse has kept him alone and unable to fall in love. When a harmonium and a mysterious woman (Emily Watson) enter his life, his romantic journey begins.
| Adam Sandler | Barry Egan |
| Emily Watson | Lena Leonard |
| Philip Seymour Hoffman | Dean Trumbell |
| Luis Guzmán | Lance |
| Jason Andrews | Operator Carter |
| Don McManus | Plastic |
| David Schrempf | Customer #1 |
| Seann Conway | Customer #2 |
| Rico Bueno | Rico |
| Hazel Mailloux | Rhonda |
| Karen Kilgariff | Anna |
| Julie Hermelin | Kathleen |
| Salvador Curiel | Sal |
| Jorge Barahona | Jorge |
| Ernesto Quintero | Ernesto |
| Paul Thomas Anderson |
7.40 out of 10 (27906 votes)
Visitor Reviews
WOW!!! BEST MOVIE I'VE SEEN IN A LONG TIME
posted on 24 Aug 2009I went into the film expecting little if anything. I could not have been more wrong. I'm glad to see Sandler take a serious aproach to a movie and not have it all be about childish jokes. The artistic aproach to this film is brilliant. I enjoyed how the director would slow down it down and speed up the movement depending on how the scene was. There were some camera angles I could've done without, but besides that this movie gets and A. I felt that Sandler did an excellent job on the different moods of his character. The movie was funny(not stupid funny) and it kept me on the edge of my seat through out a lot of the scenes. I really enjoyed this movie and I'm glad I watched it.
The opening scene in Punch-Drunk Love sets the tone for the entire movie...a very very very vague potential spoiler that you really needn't worry about...I don't think
posted on 18 Aug 2009The opening scene in Punch-Drunk Love sets the tone for the entire movie: a tone that is awkward and bizarre, flowing from detachment to chaos to harmony. The movie is a romantic comedy done in a brilliant and original way, like nothing I have seen before. Simply and concisely put, the story-line unfolds a peculiar love story set under peculiar circumstances. Nothing seems forced; the movie flows, smoothly evolving due to a sound script, director, and cast. If you are looking for an off-beat movie with humor and romance, then Punch-Drunk Love is a perfect selection.
Therapeutic Love
posted on 16 Aug 2009As a commentary on Shelley Duvall's performance of He Needs Me, sung by her Olive Oyl concerning Robin Williams' Popeye in Robert Altman's eponymous 1980 musical incarnation of the Elsie Crizler Segar Depression-era cartoon characters, this movie aptly palliates our recessionary anxieties with an edgy tale of a dysfunctional man-child sustained and redeemed by the love of a good woman. The predicament of Barry Egan (Adam Sandler), an explosive, emotionally stunted novelty toilet plunger manufacturer oppressed by well-meaning ministrations of his seven sisters, consigns his story to the social misfit ground familiar to fans of P.T. Anderson's previous efforts. In contrast with them, the redemptive message delivered through unfathomably determined affection of Lena Leonard (Emily Watson), an indeterminately professional colleague of Barry's overweening sister Elizabeth (Mary Lynn Rajskub), yields the most uplifting offering to date from an auteur still budding after a six-year, four feature film career. The palpable chemistry and razor-edged timing between Barry and Lena are well complemented by the economic backstory of useless trash production enlivened by a cunningly subverted marketing scheme and a violent phone sex scam, adding up to a tasty date night nostrum of love before first sight.
not too good, not too bad.
posted on 14 Aug 2009Adam Sandler does not fit into this movie, his character is not realistic.
This is supposed to be a character driven movie, but Sandler's character is too twitchy, bizarre and uninteresting to REALLY relate to or sympathize with. There's no eureka feeling that you're seeing a small part of yourself that's ALSO that particular breed of incomprehensible misfit. Yes, it's a break-out role for Sandler, since he's not playing the funny man per se, but so what? I'd strongly recommend this movie to Sandler's friends and family so they can see how his career is progressing, but not to anyone that expects to be handsomely entertained. I laughed out loud a few times, don't get me wrong, the film is not a disaster (I gave it a generous 7/10), but it doesn't quite meet the threshold for me to recommend it. Not much happens in the film. Sandler plays a man-child idiot (so it's not REALLY a break-out role) called Barry Egan that falls for what must be a woman-child idiot, since she falls for Egan before he falls for her. Egan is a loser with no life, which SHOULD make us all relate to him on some level, but we don't because he's got no depth, and he's always the same fidgety, nervous, semi-aloof character. And he's hard to relate to. In the heat of passion, he tells his lover he wants to smash her face in with a sledgehammer. Ha ha what a goof. (?) He has trouble controlling his anger, that's a recurring theme, but the angry-outbursts don't really fit with his cute-misfit persona. How to understand him? He is harassed by thugs that beat and extort him, but he never dreams to call the police. He can't relate well to any other character, and there's no real chemistry between him and his love interest. When you do find yourself laughing, it will be at how completely out-of-it this character is. Overall, this is not a hollywood cookie-cutter movie, but it squanders the chance to be really sincere or personal. I give the film some credit for being different and original, but you'd be just as wise to spend the $10 on steak.
Seductively intelligent
posted on 12 Aug 2009Realism is a product in eternal short supply. The problem is that it requires a very perceptive and intelligent writer to pen it in the first place. Someone who can set aside the stock phrases and rebuttals they could easily type, discard the clever filmic lines they want to type, and produce textured and deeply considered interactions.Those interactions won't always inspire imitation. People often speak in non sequiturs, their gestures are non-linear and awkward, they are crushed by outwardly trivial insecurities. This is what we do, even it escapist cinema doesn't want to acknowledge the fact.And like watching the real man emerged from underneath the Mickey Mouse costume, Sandler proves adept at a nuanced performance that challenges him beyond the voice acting that made him famous (raising his voice to a breaking timbre while keeping the decibels below a painful scream). Lead female Emily Watson hits her stride early and turns in a good performance, even if Anderson doesn't feel like really challenging her.As for his direction, the accolades just keep coming. Watch as Anderson dispenses with foreshadowing to engender a feeling of shock as the plot twists. Certainly this film is visually jarring, which makes Sandler's passive-aggressive blasts of violence so interesting to watch.I give it a 9/10 for laudatory realism.
A Silly Adolescent Fantasy
posted on 10 Aug 2009I am mystified at the rave reviews for this movie. I think the reviewers must either be die-hard Adam Sandler fans or harbor fantasies of winning the affections of an unobtainable woman.I saw this movie with a group of middle-aged film fans, and at the end, our consensus was, "What were the reviewers ON when they saw this movie, if they thought it was so wonderful?" Despite being clueless, obsessive, and under-achieving and exhibiting stalker-like behavior (following his love object to Hawaii when he hardly knows her?), Adam Sandler's character somehow manages to win the heart of Emily Watson's pretty, sweet, emotionally stable character.She sticks with him despite his making blunders that would doom the chances of any man who tried them in real life. The last stunt he pulls--running off to act on a trivial, self-absorbed impulse and leaving her injured in the emergency room--would have definitely ended the relationship for any woman who had any self-respect. Yet she takes him back.This film comes off as an adolescent male fantasy: "I can be a clueless, inconsiderate jerk, but I will find a wonderful woman who will be endlessly forgiving of every stupid thing I do."
A crowning achievement...
posted on 31 Jul 2009Adam Sandler has just redeemed himself.Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) created the role of Barry Egan especially for Sandler, considering him a great actor. Based on Happy Gilmore and Big Daddy, you may wonder what Anderson saw in him. But going back to these films after seeing Punch-Drunk Love, you can't miss it.What Anderson saw was the aching humanity under Sandler's typical character types. Anderson's specialty has always been creating sympathetic characters and putting them through hell. Boogie Nights was a maelstrom of tragedy and redemption. Magnolia was a beautifully textured look at the haunting and damaged side of love.Anderson's most recent work is an incredibly lush take on how random occurences in life can bring love into our lives, and how love can transform us into the people we deserve to be.Sandler's Egan is a troubled and broken man whose seven sisters have beat his soul into submission. He's a man who doesn't know how to state his feelings or act around people. He resorts to calling a phone sex line just to be able to talk to someone. And in typical Sandler fashion, he explodes into violent bursts of rage.Adam Sandler is magnificent. When one of his sisters approaches him, he flinches just for a moment, just enough to let you know that this has been happening for years, and he's been conditioned to back away, like an abused puppy. It's an unexpected masterpiece from an actor who typically panders to the lowest common denominator.Emily Watson is breathtaking as Lena Leonard, the woman who redeems him, who hunted him down because she was intrigued by him. The care in her eyes, her body language around him... it's a wonderfully subtle performance, and it's a lovely counterpoint to Sandler.Anderson regulars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Luis Guzman make the most out of their little screen time and add much to what, in a lesser film, would be throwaway roles. Hoffman gives his least restrained performance as the owner of the phone sex company who tries to trap Barry Egan in an extortion scheme. Guzman gives his most restrained performance as Egan's business partner.The typical Sandler fan will likely be turned off by this film. (If the screening I attended was any indication, the most common response from young people will be, "That sucked".) Most of Sandler's films don't engage you on any sort of emotional level and don't try to elicit any reaction apart from belly laughs. The story of Barry Egan is an extremely touching story of redemption, and at times is saddening. One scene where Egan bursts into tears and tries to get help from one of his sisters' husbands (Robert Smigel in a cameo) is simultaneously very funny and tear-jerking.The team of Anderson and cinematographer Robert Elswit has spent four films together, building a unique style and visual vocabulary, a hybrid of Scorsese and Altman. For Punch-Drunk Love, they inject the French style of Jacques Tati and Francois Truffaut, utilizing rich colors and sweeping shots, and it ought to earn Elswit an Oscar for cinematography. It's that good.Anderson uses nuance like a master in this film. Little things that are easy to miss add so much to this film. Little things, like "LOVE" scratched on his knuckles after punching a wall, or a light coming on in a phone booth when he finally reaches Lena, the musical figure he plays on the harmonium. It's a film that can be enjoyed on first sight, and can be endlessly deciphered and debated.One of the greatest things about Punch-Drunk Love, though, is Jon Brion's score. It again quotes French cinema, but controls so much of the mood that it's inextricable from the film. The use of "He Needs Me" from Altman's Popeye seems like an odd choice, but once that moment comes around, you can't see any other song working so perfectly.Paul Thomas Anderson has just created his third masterpiece of American cinema, and Adam Sandler has just managed to free himself from the shackles of his previous characters. It's a crowning achievement for all parties concerned.
Sleeper that needs a few more hours rest...
posted on 29 Jul 2009OK- I am a PT Anderson Fan. OK- I am a film fan. OK- I am a fan of artsy movies. But I was not a fan of Punch Drunk Love.Here, we have an example of a great director trying to be someone he's not; is he a victim of the masses who expect something a slight bit on the quirky side? or was he going for the "art film" look in every shot just because he could?Either way, it does not succeed in my book. I've loved PT Anderson's films up until this point, but with this one, it seemed like he was trying too hard to impress the audience and give them (us) something new. For me, it didn't work. It MAY have worked with a first time director trying to find his/her style, but not a vet who already has both a mainstream AND a cult following. This one tried too hard to satisfy that cult following- and this member of that cult saw right through the artsy stuff and wondered why he chose to do something that's so obviously "fake." Sadly, 6/10
A Strange and odd experience.
posted on 21 Jul 2009Punch-Drunk Love is a peculiar film. The film is so unconventional and made in such a whimsical like manner that I was rather frustrated by its tip-toeing. At times it would hook you in, a scene, a comment would make you take attentiveness but then just as quickly it would let go and leave you a bit perplex.The film follows Barry Egan (Adam Sandler), a businessman who is socially-inept and oddly-eccentric, and who has a big family of seven sisters. After Barry is caught up in a phone-scam he meets Lena (Emily Watson) his love interest and becomes more erratic and idiosyncratic.Barry is a forlorn individual, and to Anderson's and Sandler's credit they are immediately able to create this almost parental protective feeling from the viewer towards Barry. The early scenes have an almost child-like quality and we can understand to some degree the personal struggle that Barry is enduring. Adam Sandler is also able to convey that behind the external niceties and quirkiness there is a darkness, or anger brooding inside.Somehow, Lena falls for Barry, although this does have an unpredictability factor, one can just about surmise that she seeks strangeness and peculiarity away from her normalcy. The film goes-on and for me is rather to self-assured. The screenplay gets caught up in its own whimsical nature and loses structure and cohesiveness. A few times in the film bizarre colours overlapping one-another would appear on screen, for what reason? This was completely bewildering and off-putting.Punch-Drunk Love is different, and it is not that I do not like the unconventional but too much oddity tends to hamper my enjoyment. It is a mish-mash of light/dark comedy, which never really is able to define itself or present a sure-footing. It is a film to ponder and I am sure many will appreciate it for its openness but I just couldn't engage myself strongly in the story.
Adam Sandler's Unique Screen Persona -- The Whining Bully
posted on 15 Jul 2009Charlie Chaplin was the Little Tramp. Kicked around and mistreated, he always retained his hope, his kindness and his jaunty walk. Adam Sandler has taken the comic little man persona in an entirely new direction -- he's the sniveling tough guy, the twitchy mama's boy, the whining bully.In this movie, Adam Sandler does pointless, stupid things, then reacts with screaming, Hitler-like tantrums whenever his own actions start to boomerang and hit him in the behind. The story line, of a small time salesman going over the edge, has been a cliché ever since Willy Loman's sanity gave way in Arthur Miller's DEATH OF A SALESMAN. But at least Willy was a full grown man with a wife and sons he tried to provide for. Adam Sandler seems to exist at the age of 13 forever, flying into a rage every time his sisters call him "gay boy." Who exactly is supposed to identify with this character? Emily Watson, refined and very beautiful, is hopelessly out of place in this strange, self-indulgent movie. Not that a romantic comedy featuring a classy lady and a two-bit jerk was a bad idea to start with. Perhaps if the Sandler character were forced to clean up his act, and learn something about himself, in order to become worthy of the stunning English beauty, the movie might have made sense. But no, all the guy does is go right on throwing temper tantrums left and right, screaming and frothing at the mouth, while the exquisite Emily Watson just stares at him in a daze. The movie ends with her blank confusion filling the screen, and perhaps that's the most appropriate image.
Interesting at the time, nothing else
posted on 13 Jul 2009Adam Sandler graduates to the grown-up level of acting and does a decent enough job in Punch-Drunk Love, but neither he nor the film is anything special. The film gives us a glimpse of the life of Barry Egan (Sandler) and it isn't very pretty. He is constantly harassed by his seven sisters; he has no one he can really talk to or trust. In his loneliness he calls a phone sex line, an action that has long-reaching consequences. He also meets an attractive young woman (Emily Watson) and begins a relationship with her.Egan is a man beset by problems of all kinds but we see no sign of or hope for resolution. Watson's Lena Leonard is not so much a mysterious character as a non-entity. We never know her, learn next to nothing about her except that she is an only child and there is no real interpersonal relationship between the two, only a seeming mutual attraction.While you are watching it, the film is interesting enough to pass the time and the direction is unusual and quirky, but the lack of involvement with and between the main characters leaves the viewer feeling uninvolved as well.
Steaming pile of art flik
posted on 11 Jul 2009It's as original as the pile the neighbors dog left on my front yard and just as interesting. Art house film that should come with a warning lable. Bad score, simple story, and bad camera work that only art house people can grab onto as "original". Original because anyone with brains would have left this one on the cutting room floor. Adam Sandler proves once again that he can't act. This is a movie that was so bad it's being passed off as art.
soooo depressing
posted on 07 Jul 2009I was really looking forward to this movie. I had the impression it would be quirky and original and Sandler proved in the Wedding Singer that he was actually capable of giving a good performance in a good movie (although it's not something he generally even tries for).So, it is certainly quirky, kind of original and Sandler gives a very interesting performance. But the movie just made me depressed, anxious and uncomfortable. This guy has an awful life, the film is claustrophobic and and you feel that he is totally trapped; by his intrusive sisters, by the over-the-top subplot involving phone sex, but most of all by his own rage and helplessness. I gave up on this movie about two thirds of the way through, because you're just watching a doomed man. None of it is funny, in spite of being quirky, and while the movie may well have a happy ending for all I know, there's no way that character could have a happy ending without years and years of therapy, at the least. You could take this same character and situation and make a dark, searing drama, but instead the movie is sort of a comedy without laughs, something that shies away from the real results of populating it with misery. It's a complete misfire.
A classic - works wonders in every department
posted on 07 Jul 2009I sort of recall seeing Boogie Nights shortly after it came out. I didn't pay much attention to the movie because I was watching it with friends. I saw Magnolia when that came out and it struck me as being a very good movie, but I thought it an exaggeration to call P.T.Anderson a wunder-kid or the next Robert Altman. I delayed seeing Punch-Drunk Love for years because it was supposed to be the least best of Andersons films, probably because its done on a much smaller scale and its not an ensemble piece. I also confess that I don't generally visit the Adam Sandler section of video stores! However, I finally squeezed it in last night and I'm completely blown away.P.T. Anderson is the most exciting young director in years - even better than Tarantino or David Fincher. His attention to human detail is better than that of a seasoned veteran and that is perhaps why he can extract performances even from actors like Tom Cruise. Adam Sandler in this film is a revelation. There is a scene in Hawaii in the phone-booth where Sandler is talking to his sister and she is being, well, his sister. He gets desperate and then loses his cool. That scene was only a couple of seconds long but I think it will stay with me for years to come. He has the ability to create brilliant dialog in a cinematic language that is fresh, realistic and very original - something I admire about David Mamet as well. His use of music - original score as well as soundtrack is brilliant.BUT, where Anderson stands head and shoulders above other young directors is in his understanding of the mechanics of film-making. He has obviously studied the great works and directors of cinema history, and studied them well. But, instead of paying homage to them in an obvious manner, he has subtly incorporated their strengths into his own story. It is a joy to see the way the camera weaves around beautifully - such fluid photography and visually so elegant. There is not a lazy moment in Punch-Drunk, every frame executed to perfection. Most Anderson fans, and I know I'm a new addition to the club, like his large ensemble work and may have been disappointed by the smaller scale of Punch-Drunk. I would personally lean towards smaller stories like Punch-Drunk where he can build fuller characterizations as he has done with Barry Egan.This is one director to look out for and Punch-Drunk is truly a classic that merits more than one viewing.
If there's a point to this film, I'd love to know what it is.
posted on 05 Jul 2009I'm still scratching my head over this film. There are many problems with the movie. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense and the story is pointless. There are two subplots-- the romance between Barry and Lena, and the trouble Barry gets into because of his call to a phone-sex line--but they don't really come together. The filmmaker doesn't seem to know what he wanted the movie to be--a comedy, a drama or a combination. And because he didn't know what he wanted, the film doesn't work on any of these levels. There is zero chemistry between Barry and Lena, so it is never clear what this attractive and successful woman sees in this strange, child-like man. All in all, it's a very unsatisfying movie. It just kind of meanders along without really going anywhere. The only redeeming quality is the acting--it was great to see Adam Sandler in a role that is very different from his usual comedies.
Disjointed, unfathomable, waste of time
posted on 01 Jul 2009The worst movie I have ever seen. I regret not walking out and demanding my money back. Sandler plays a character one millimeter from becoming a psychopathic killer. The movie was disturbing without provoking thought. There are no redeeming qualities to this movie.
Intriguing
posted on 29 Jun 2009It seemed to me, that PT Anderson decided to make a deliberate detour from creating sweeping emotional epics a-la Magnolia and try something else for a change. Strangely enough, in the end he came up with a very-Tom DiCillo film, turning Adam Sandler into John Turturro in the process. Mind you, that's not a problem with me at all, since I'm a great fan of Tom DiCillo's work and I also happen to consider John Turturro an excellent actor. Punch-Drunk Love is endearing in its small-scale excentrity, but still it feels more like an experiment on behalf of the writer-director, rather than a heartfelt project. Oh well, it doesn't matter all that much I guess, since I greatly enjoyed this film and was once again made certain of the fact that PT Anderson is an excellent director capable of many exciting things. Here's to his next project, friends
Be Aware!! (kind of a spoiler)
posted on 23 Jun 2009I rented this movie thinking it was a typical Sandler laugher but it turned out to be more serious. I realized this fact within the first 10-15 min and was thus able to change my expectations. Conclusion? Sandler did a very convincing role of what its like to be forced being a loser, cracking, and then finally finding himself through love. I'm still brain boggled at how Sandler actually pulled off a role like this. I still remember him in that silly thong and trying to grope Kirstie Alley on SNL. I really have to respect the man for being able to do diverse films. Watch this movie but be very aware of the fact that its more of a serious movie and not slap stick comedy. This movie is probably somewhat of a cross between Sleepless in Seattle and American Psycho.
Quirky, Engaging film
posted on 21 Jun 2009I put Adam Sandler in the same category as Jim Carrey in the sense thatall these two guys need is a good script and a good director to showtheir true talent.
Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights and Magnolia) is a wonderful visualstoryteller with great timing and an interesting sense of style. He wasable to take Sandler's improvisational skills and craft them into what Ibelieve to be an award winning performance.
Emily Watson is one of the most sexy and emotionally intense actorsaround. She has proven herself time and time again to be so versatileand committed to each role she takes(Red Dragon, Trixey, Hillary andJackie, Breaking
Excellent film
posted on 30 Aug 2009I have thought all of PT Anderson's previous films were extremely self-indulgent and pretentious (especially "Magnolia"), not to mention long, slow, and boring (especially "Hard Eight"). I am also notorious for enjoying a painfully small number of movies that I see, but I liked this one a lot. I can see how it could be a disappointment for die-hard PT Anderson fans or die-hard Adam Sandler fans, but putting all those preconceived notions aside, I found this to be a very enjoyable film. It had interesting characters and actual character development that makes you actually feel for the characters and care what happens to them. This is something you could never hope to see in a Hollywood romantic comedy.