Punch Drunk Love

I saw Punch Drunk Love this past Saturday night (June 7, 2008). I'm not sure why I've been putting off seeing this one of PT Anderson's movies, because I've loved every other movie I've seen that were direct by him. (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and There Will Be Blood. Maybe I was just doubtful that a movie starring Adam Sandler, even one directed by Paul Thomas Anderson would be particularly good. But the surprise was that I loved Punch Drunk Love at least as well as if not better than his other movies. In fact, I launched this website as a result of loving Punch Drunk Love so much.

Punch Drunk Love features Adam Sandler as Barry Egan, a man with a tempper problem. If you've seen other Adam Sandler movies, you'll know that this is a bit of typecasting. Adam Sandler has played the manic, goofy guy with the temper for over a decade now. But PT Anderson and Adam Sandler manage t make this stereotype into something new, different and interesting in this movie. This goofball has real problems relating to other people because of his social maladjustments, the kind of problems tha aren't played for yuks. And when Barry Egan gets mad, he seems frightening instead of stupid silly. His anger eventually leads to a scene which is showdown between Barry Egan and Dean Trumbull (played by a here-brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman) which makes Barry's hostility and isolation into something heroic.

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