Punch-Drunk Love

Barry Egan (Sandler) had to keep everything on the inside. Growing up with seven sisters he had been the brunt of all their jokes and meddling but unbeknownst to them he was lonely, sad and prone to bouts of extreme anger. Deciding to bring some change into his life, Barry rings a phone sex line for some female attention but soon after he meets and falls for his sister Elizabeth's (Rajskub) friend Lena (Watson). All is going well until the girl from the phone sex line rings him back and threatens to expose him as a pervert unless he sends her $750.

Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson returns with his first foray in black comedy and by far his shortest film yet.

After the successes of the character driven dramas Hard Eight, Boogie Nights and Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love is a far more light hearted affair put it still has all the Paul Thomas Anderson trademarks of great characters and surreal circumstances.

I have to admit that I am not the biggest Adam Sandler fan but in the hands of Anderson and most importantly with no control of his own, Sandler is at his most palatable in this movie. His Barry Egan character is his best since Robbie Hart in The Wedding Singer, as this is a role with real feeling and pent up emotion with is ideal for Sandler's quite limited talents.

Anderson surrounds him with a great supporting cast. The always very watchable Emily Watson brings a bit of class to the production and Anderson stalwarts Seymour Hoffman and Luis Guzman are as good as ever.

The movie does have its laugh out loud moments but it might be too surreal (especially the opening fifteen minutes) and too dark for some people's comedic tastes but it would be a Paul Thomas Anderson film without these moments.

Anderson proves again that he is a writer/director to watch and that he can get the best out of any actor, whatever his/her talent. Punch-Drunk Love is inventive, visually alluring and experimental and it is probably the best Adam Sandler movie ever.

3 Deleted scenes, 'Blossoms And Blood' featurette, Photo montage, Trailers, Interactive menu & Scene access

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2003