Photo: Emily Watson as Lena and Adam Sandler as Barry in Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. In Punch-Drunk Love, Paul Thomas Anderson puts Adam Sandler in a blue suit and contemplates what would happen if Jerry Lewis went ape-shit in the San Fernando Valley. (For his trouble, Anderson predictably wowed France, snagging the Best Director prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival.) Barry Egan (Sander), a warehouse manager prone to violence, discovers that he can amass a million frequent flyer miles by taking advantage of a loophole in a promotional coupon. Mix in strange acts of fate, an eccentric love interest (Emily Watson channeling Fiona Apple), Jeremy Blake's digital animations, Healthy Choice pudding four-packs, and stir evenly with Jon Brion's drop-the-virgin-in-the-volcano tribal drums and Shelly Duvall's Popeye anthem playing in the background. Despite some memorable comedic moments (see Sandler and Watson's twisted bed scene), Punch-Dunk Love is otherwise loud and graceless, a messy work-in-progress passing itself off as the finished product. One could say it resembles punch-drunk love.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. In Punch-Drunk Love, Paul Thomas Anderson puts Adam Sandler in a blue suit and contemplates what would happen if Jerry Lewis went ape-shit in the San Fernando Valley. (For his trouble, Anderson predictably wowed France, snagging the Best Director prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival.) Barry Egan (Sander), a warehouse manager prone to violence, discovers that he can amass a million frequent flyer miles by taking advantage of a loophole in a promotional coupon. Mix in strange acts of fate, an eccentric love interest (Emily Watson channeling Fiona Apple), Jeremy Blake's digital animations, Healthy Choice pudding four-packs, and stir evenly with Jon Brion's drop-the-virgin-in-the-volcano tribal drums and Shelly Duvall's Popeye anthem playing in the background. Despite some memorable comedic moments (see Sandler and Watson's twisted bed scene), Punch-Dunk Love is otherwise loud and graceless, a messy work-in-progress passing itself off as the finished product. One could say it resembles punch-drunk love.
