Punch-Drunk Love

OCTOBER 19, 2002

A truly honest love story. This also happens to be my new favorite film of the year (sorry Secretary). I was nervous, anxious, excited to see Adam Sandler in a dramatic role, especially since it could theoretically ruin a movie by one of my favorite directors. He was really fucking good. He plays a man (Barry) who is inundated by his seven sisters' nagging, which has knocked a few screws loose over the years. Barry sells novelty plungers. In his other films he was always goofy and funny, but there was an awkward side to him that was ever present. In Punch-Drunk Love, that side takes over completely and he becomes an awkward, socially dysfunctional nutcase, who manages to be incredibly likeable.

I won't give away the plotline, because the way it exposes itself is brilliant and I don't want to ruin that. I won't go on about the shot selections or character development because P.T. Anderson is a genius and he needs no support from me. The only thing I will do is recommend you go see this, for two reasons:

1. It is a fantastic movie, that really makes you feel a lot of emotion, even if you cringe sometimes. Really wonderful.

2. People come to this movie expecting to see Billy Madison 2 and watching them cringe is funny (in a hoighty-toighty, artsy-fartsy kind of way).

Posted in Film at 5:31 pm.