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All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review
Punch-Drunk Love
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 out of 4
Review by Susan Granger
3 stars out of 4
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Eureka! A startling discovery: Adam Sandler can act! It's a far cry
from "Happy Gilmore" and "Mr. Deeds" as Sandler plays Barry Egan, a bathroom
supplies wholesaler in this amusing, artsy romantic comedy set in the San
Fernando Valley. With seven emotionally abusive sisters, it's no wonder that
Barry's a social misfit, prone to self-hatred and anxiety attacks that wreak
havoc on his surroundings. Lonely and depressed, he turns to a phone-sex service
and, having given his credit card number, inadvertently becomes involved in a
sleazy extortion scheme. Meanwhile, Barry's photo catches the fancy of Lena
Leonard (Emily Watson), a divorced friend of one of his sisters. She pursues him
and the chemistry clicks. They develop a sweetly giddy, if chaotic,
relationship, peppered with oddly jarring dialogue like, "I want to smash your
face," he says. To which she tenderly replies, "I want to scoop out your eyes
and eat them." Inevitably, things go awry, requiring a trip to Hawaii. Otherwise
there'd be no plot. Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson got the idea after
reading a "Time" article about David Phillips, known as the Pudding Guy, having
invested $3,000 to accumulate 1.25 million airline miles by buying 12,150 cups
of Healthy Choice pudding. But the real revelation is Adam Sandler. He restrains
his usual schtick and really embodies this quirky, enigmatic - if
two-dimensional - character. Could this be the year that Adam Sandler gets an
Oscar nomination? Crazier things have happened. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1
to 10, "Punch-Drunk Love" is a bizarre, off-beat 8. While still self-conscious,
it's superbly visual and far more accessible than P.T. Anderson's "Boogie
Nights" or "Magnolia" and curiously reminiscent of the quirky "Pennies From
Heaven" (1981) starring Steve Martin.
Copyright © 2002 Susan Granger
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