Punch-Drunk Love: Totally changed my opinion of Adam Sandler

★★★★--Saw this at the IU Cinema on Valentine’s Day, a perfect date night. Maybe my favorite Adam Sandler movie, depending on the day. Either that or Uncut Gems or Jay Kelly. This, however, was the one that was most interesting. For people that weren’t alive or paying attention back in 2002, it’s hard to stress the degree to which Adam Sandler’s performance was shocking. I’ve walked out of multiple Sandler movies. One, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, I actually asked for my money back. Sandler was thought of as an unhinged physical comedian. That was his schtick and that’s all we got for the decade from Airheads up to this. Extremely funny, but niche and not serious. PDL plays to his physical gifts and lets him tone it down. That is until his character explodes, which happens multiple times throughout the film. 

My rubric is one star each for acting/casting, story, creativity, and signature/style. I then have one for vibe. I’m a pretty easy grader. No half star bullshit. Fucking commit. This is four stars because the story is a bit thin and doesn’t do a great job of making you believe that someone could be instantly in love with Sandler’s character, Barry Egan, despite his many red flags. Cast and characters are amazing though. 
 
Philip Seymour Hoffman is incredible. One of his best smaller roles as a wannabe tough guy. He talks big on the phone and when people are walking away, but when confronted, he doesn't want any part of that. When him and his cronies try extorting Barry for calling a phone sex line, Barry wants them to lay off. Hoffman's character goes apocalyptic. "SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP! Shut up; will you SHUTUP SHUTUP! SHUT SHUT SHUT SHUT SHUTUP... SHUTUP! NOW!" he says. It's over the top but amazing. Dude steals every scene. Emily Watson is fine as the love interest. Luis Guzmán is always underrated. And Gayle "The Snail", aka Mary Lynn Rajskub, is great as Barry's overprotective, only slightly less neurotic sister. 
 

Only other person I'll mention is Robert Smigel, who plays Barry's dentist brother-in-law. In my mind he is a comedic genius. He's the voice of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, was a long-time Saturday Night Live writer, and was the mind behind SNL's "TV Funhouse" cartoon shorts. If you haven't seen those, they are pretty incredible. They include classics like the crowd-pleasing The Ambiguously Gay Duo, The Michael Jackson Show which probably wouldn't fly today, and my personal favorite The All-New Adventures of Mr. T ("I need work, fool!"). In addition, he co-wrote, mostly with Sandler (who also starred), Hotel Transylvania and Hotel Transylvania 2 (which I love), and Leo... And the unfortunate You Don't Mess with the Zohan. It's also worth mentioning his work on the brilliant The Dana Carvey Show, a magical, incredibly funny show that kicked off the careers of Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert. It was insanely controversial, but amazing, and Smigel was a big part of its "success". It only last about a month because all the drama surrounding it. 
 

It’s mid-tier Paul Thomas Anderson, but that means it is just fantastic instead of an absolute classic. In my mind, One Battle After Another and There Will Be Blood are battling it out with Zodiac, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood as the greatest film of the century. The Master, Licorice Pizza, Inherent Vice, and Phantom Threadare all five star movies for me. Below those I have Punch-Drunk Love just below those incredible films. I’d rate that and PTA’s previous two, Boogie Nights and Magnolia, as four-star flicks, and his first, Hard Eight, I’d put at three. Just my personal list though.
 
PTA is one of the best when it comes to the balance of needle drops, sound, and score. It’s an emotional language in this film. The song “He Needs Me” makes the dude feel fragile and vulnerable. Even though I have no patience for dudes who can’t take care of themselves, that need a mom out of their lover, Barry Egan gets a little bit of a pass. That said, there is no way that this could end happily for him. Sort of the Titanic problem. For it to be a real love story, dude has to die because there is too much shit for them to overcome.
 
Overall, it is a very sweet and tender love story. First time I remember talk about autism on film where the person wasn’t treated like a superhero, which was pretty cool. Sandler does a great job of making you feel the dude’s social anxiety and frustration. Good balance of danger and humor that really makes you go through a lot of emotions during its runtime, and after. And it is visually stunning.