Punch-Drunk Love is a 2002 romantic comedy-drama written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, starring Adam Sandler and Emily Watson. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Luis Guzmán also appear.
After the release of his previous film, Magnolia (which ran over three hours long), Anderson stated that he would like to work with Adam Sandler in the future and that he was determined to make his next film 90 minutes long.[1]
Sandler won positive reviews for his role in his first major departure from the broader comedies that had made him a star. Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times that "Sandler, liberated from the constraints of formula, reveals unexpected depths as an actor. Watching this film, you can imagine him in Dennis Hopper roles. He has darkness, obsession and power."[2] He won Best Actor at the Gijón International Film Festival and received a Golden Globe nomination.
The film was produced by Revolution Studios and New Line Cinema, and distributed by Columbia Pictures; it features the video artwork of Jeremy Blake in the form of visual interludes.
Plot
Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) owns a company that markets themed toilet plungers ("fungers") and other novelty items. He has seven overbearing sisters who ridicule and emotionally abuse him regularly and leads a very lonely life punctuated by fits of rage. In the span of one morning, he witnesses a bizarre car accident, picks up an abandoned harmonium from the street, and encounters Lena Leonard (Emily Watson), who orchestrated the meeting after seeing him in a family picture belonging to his sister Elizabeth (Mary Lynn Rajskub), a co-worker of Lena's.
Barry calls a phone sex hotline for conversation, but the operator attempts to extort money and sends her four henchmen, who are brothers, to collect. This complicates his budding relationship with Lena, as well as his plan to exploit a loophole in a Healthy Choice promotion and amass a million frequent flyer miles by buying large quantities of pudding (based on the true story of David Phillips). After Lena leaves for Hawaii on a business trip, Barry decides to follow her. He arrives and calls one of his manipulative sisters to learn where Lena is staying. When his sister tries manipulating him again, Barry snaps and demands she give him the information, which she does. Lena is unexpectedly overjoyed to see Barry, and they have a pillow talk scene. At first, Barry explains that he is in Hawaii on a business trip by coincidence, but he soon admits that he came to pursue a romantic relationship.
After they return home, the four brothers ram their car into Barry's, leaving Lena mildly injured. An enraged Barry is attacked by the brothers, one of whom wields a tire iron. With surprising skill, he fights them off despite being outnumbered. He later leaves Lena at the hospital and tries to end the harassment by calling the phone-sex line and speaking to the "supervisor", who turns out to be Dean Trumbell (Philip Seymour Hoffman), owner of a mattress store. Barry travels to Provo, Utah to confront him in person. Dean, at first trying to intimidate Barry, finds Barry much more intimidating and Barry forces him to leave him alone. This scene is made more intimidating by the fact that Barry carried the phone that he had called Trumbell with all the way to Utah and is holding it at his side.
Barry tells Lena his story and begs her for forgiveness, pledging to use his frequent-flier miles to accompany her on all future trips. She readily agrees, and they embrace happily. Lena approaches Barry in his office while he plays the harmonium. She puts her arms around him and says, "So, here we go."
Cast
Reception
Paul Thomas Anderson won the award for Best Director at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.[3]
Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 79% "fresh" rating.[4] The Internet Movie Database rates it at 7.4/10. The movie came at #33 in the AV Club's "Top 50 films of the '00s".[5]
Filmmakers Lee Unkrich and Judd Apatow have both cited it as one of their favorite films.[6]
Score and soundtrack
The score to Punch-Drunk Love was composed by Jon Brion. As with the previous film Magnolia, Brion and director Paul Thomas Anderson collaborated heavily for the production of the film's score. However, rather than scoring the film after rough footage had been shot, Brion created compositions during the filming of Punch-Drunk Love. During the scoring process, Brion would experiment with tones and sounds, carefully making note of what Anderson would respond to. Anderson himself would create vocal tempos he would envision in the score and use them on set, even to the extent of inspiring the pace of Adam Sandler's performance.
The film's score features heavy use of the harmonium, an instrument that Anderson knew he wanted in the film before he had even completed the script. Brion introduced Anderson to this instrument and many scenes between Adam Sandler's character and the instrument were inspired by Brion. For instance, Brion once found a harmonium with a hole in its bellows before going on tour with Aimee Mann. To fix the problem, he covered the hole with duct tape. An identical situation is found in the film.
References
- ^ Patterson, John (March 10, 2000). "Magnolia Maniac". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2000/mar/10/culture.features. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (October 18, 2002). "Punch-Drunk Love". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20021018/REVIEWS/210180308/1023. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Punch-Drunk Love". Cannes Film Festival. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3124026/year/2002.html. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
- ^ "Punch-Drunk Love (2002)". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/punchdrunk_love/. Retrieved December 3, 2009.
- ^ Murray, Noel; Phipps, Keith; Rabin, Nathan; Robinson, Tasha; Tobias, Scott. "The best films of the 00's". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-films-of-the-00s,35931/2/. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
- ^ Goodsell, Luke (June 15, 2010). "Five Favorite Films With Toy Story 3 Director Lee Unkrich". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/toy_story_3/news/1888943/five_favorite_films_with_toy_story_3_director_lee_unkrich/. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
Bibliography
External links
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