Cheap Punch-Drunk Love (Two Disc Special Edition) (Superbit Collection) (DVD) (Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman) (Paul Thomas Anderson) Price

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Customer Reviews of Punch-Drunk Love (Two Disc Special Edition) (Superbit Collection)

Beauty in strange places
Being a huge P.T. Anderson fan, there was no way I wouldn't watch this film. But Punch-Drunk did remind me why I love Anderson's films so much. Given this was definately a different experience than all three of this previous films. There was still an Anderson mood to it all, his strange way of unfolding a story to us. The way the film was shot was simply marvelous accenting his script. In my opinion Anderson is a "sound director." The mood and the feel of the movie depend heavily on sound. The soundtrack is vital in Punch-Drunk, from the frantic interactions with Sandler to the romantic scenes with Watson. The talent on this film get kudos also. Anderson regulars Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Luis Guzman were as always great. I've really started to enjoy Emily Watson also, her talent with every movie I see her in is really impressive. I'd also thought I would never say this but Adam Sandler was awesome in this. It's really great to see some "new" talent in someone who has shown so much lack of it in the past. His performance was without a doubt masterful. All in all, I would recommend this film to anyone out there. At the root it's a romantic film, but so much more than that. Strange indeed but yet very beautiful.

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Or: Adam Sandler¿s attempt at being taken seriously
I rented this movie with an open mind. Sure, Adam Sandler is responsible for some of the dumbest comedies of recent times; but he's also done some very good ones- THE WEDDING SINGER, ANGER MANAGEMENT & 50 FIRST DATES as a case in point. Then there's the Rob Schneider comedies Sandler co-produced. And admittedly THE WATERBOY & HAPPY GILMORE were stupid but still reasonably enjoyable- plus there was the added incentive of ogling Fairuza Balk and Julie Bowen.- here we have Emily Watson but ..... More on that later.
I also had high expectations for the movie when I saw Paul Thomas Anderson's name on the credits as director. BOOGIE NIGHTS was excellent and MAGNOLIA was very good (if half an hour overlong). Anderson managed to elicit a brilliant performance from Tom Cruise, and the climax with the plague of raining frogs ranks in my opinion as one of the coolest moments in recent cinema. Ingenious.
Now Anderson has given the world PUNCH DRUNK LOVE. What can I say, except when I subjected myself to PUNCH DRUNK LOVE I was STONE COLD SOBER.
Sandler plays Barry Egen; a naïve, shy, sheltered young man whose life is dominated by his seven highly dysfunctional sisters who would drive any guy mad. Even Ron Jeremy and Randy West would be struggling to crawl out from under them, giving a frenetic "time-out" sign. Folks, this is The Brady Bunch as envisaged by Robert Crumb, with artistic pretension substituting for the laughs.
At heart a kind, but lost and lonely soul, Barry has previously looked for companionship by calling phone sex hotlines - the women in question taking full advantage of his naivety and conning him into giving them his personal details and social security number, ending with Barry willingly allowing money to be extorted from him. Poor schmuck.
But one day while working his dead-end warehouse job Barry finds himself struck by Cupid's Arrow when he lays eyes on the lovely Lena Leonard (played by the incredibly cute Emily Watson, who sadly is utterly wasted here). It turns out for some reason that Lena likes him a lot too, but the socially awkward Barry doesn't know how to build on their attraction. In time they have their first date and slowly but surely; love blossoms.
Now, I'll admit that I don't mind the occasional love story if there's a good story or an interesting angle to it (e.g.: THE GRADUATE, SUMMER OF '42, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 3- seriously!) but words almost fail me when it comes to describing this movie. The picture has a bright, chirpy look about it but its tone is very bland. It had the potential to be a good movie but Anderson's self indulgence swallows everything up and the result amounts to nothing more than 90 minutes of wasted time.
However, every cloud has a silver lining, however brief, and here is some amusing dialogue from the love scene:
Watson: "I wanna bite your cheek and chew on it coz it's so f***in' cute."
Sandler: "I'm looking at your face and I just wanna smash it- I just wanna f***in smash it with a sledgehammer and squeeze, you're so pretty."
Watson: "I wanna chew your face and I wanna scoop out your eyes and I wanna eat them and suck on them."
Sandler: "OK" [pause] "This is funny." [Pause] "This is nice."
So bear than in mind next time you're on a date and you experience one of those awkward silences!

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Punch-Drunk Perfection
Right off, I want to say that I'm a huge fan of Paul Thomas Anderson. Boogie Nights and Magnolia are two of the best ensemble pieces I've ever seen. Needless to say, I was quite surprised when I heard that he'd done a small picture, a love story, and that it starred Adam Sandler. But that was only the beginning of the surprises, as I soon found out...

Sandler plays Barry Egan, a quiet, lonely guy who is experiencing a degree of emotional angst about life. He's trying to make his business prosper, dealing with seven nagging sisters (all of whom badger him relentlessly about life, love, etc...), and yet finds himself swinging from sobbing uncontrollably to abject rage from time to time, with no apparent reason. In a lonely moment, he indulges in a phone-sex scam with unfortunate consequences. He's also buying up lots of groceries in an attempt to gain a million free air miles and meanwhile, a romance is blossoming with Lena (Emily Watson), a friend of one of his sisters. With me so far?

The real beauty of this film is in its imagery and simplicity. Barry and Lena are imperfect people trying to connect in an imperfect world. Anderson gives an amazing amount of trust to the actors to portray these people honestly, and it works wonderfully. They are able to convey a universe of emotion with very few words, and the connection seems so real, so tangible, that just watching them is almost like falling in love. The use of music, always excellent in Anderson's films, is just as perfect here and I have to say, the scene in which Barry and Lena walk down a hotel hallway in Hawaii with the song Maui Chimes playing quietly in the background, as he takes her hand and the camera irises in on their hands as they round a corner is quite possibly the sweetest love scene I've never seen. An earlier scene in which the two meet in the same hotel is done all in silhouette, and the effect is brilliant and beautiful. I'm getting all teary-eyed just thinking about it.

Luis Guzman and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, two of Anderson's stock cast of actors, as usual, turn in great performances and it makes me happy to see that Anderson appreciates the quality of these actors as much as many of us do. And though it appears that Sandler has returned to his more familiar genre of movies, he shows us that he really does have the chops to play serious, character-driven roles and with luck, we'll see more performances of this caliber from him in the future.