Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

Idea: Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) became very introverted and secretive to survive growing up with his eight sisters. Almost simultaneously, he discovers a way to win 1 million frequent flyer miles, and he meets and falls in love with a mysterious woman named Lena (Emily Watson). Both of these occurrences cause Barry to start and stop actions that he never thought possible to control.

I was going to post about the last Adam Sandler movie I saw, 50 First Dates, and I was sitting here thinking about how boring it was and how similar to the rest of his movies.

And then I thought . . . you know what was different? Punch-Drunk Love. And it was like a little wash of joy came over me.

Not joy for the movie, which I will get to in a moment, but joy for Sandler's sake. Good for him, I say, for taking on this role. He didn't make any voices, Rob Schneider didn't appear at any point, and it didn't seem like a woman who was way too good for him was going to fall for him.

It almost, if you can imagine, seemed a bit more . . . real. While I'm certain that the real Sandler is closer to the guy he portrays in the majority of his movies, the fact that this character wasn't outright obnoxious was a welcome change that he really worked hard for, it seems.

Back to the film itself.

I've been trying to find a way to express how P.T Anderson writes and directs. Basically, I think he's a raging egomaniac. We all are, I know, but Anderson's a little bit more so. He must sit there in front of his word processor or whatever he uses, thinking, "I am so much more innovative/irreverant/wild/interesting/edgey/intelligent/talented than anyone else working in Hollywood today." Do you know how I can tell? He looks genuinely crestfallen when he doesn't win at awards shows.

I know that sounds terrible, but I wouldn't think that I deserved to win if I were there. What happened to the honour in being nominated? Clichéd, fine, but still true.

That said, despite the fact that the movie is annoying, it's also funny and little bit sweet. Of course, anything with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Luis Guzman is off to a good start, but this film achieves more than that.

Months later, I'm still thinking about it. I no longer have that horribly annoying song in my head, and I still don't know what it exactly is about this film. It's one of those things that it's hard to pinpoint exactly what it does for you.

To call it odd would be an understatement of near-epic proportions, and it's definitely not for everyone. In fact, I'm not certain it's anyone.