Punch Drunk Love

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring: Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman

PT Anderson is a curious fellow. His previous highlights of Boogie Nights and Magnolia have made his name as a director to watch. His choice of cast has always seemed so right, especially in Boogie Nights when he cast Burt ("I lost my career sometime in 1978") Reynolds to excellent effect. In Magnolia he decided that confusing the heck out of the audience was the best thing to do, and it indeed was. Now, with Punch Drunk Love he has decided to do both.

The casting of Adam (antichrist) Sander is, indeed, a baffling one. When I first heard this I dropped to the ground and wept for the future of all that is sacred! Adam (fart and piss jokes) Sandler was going to be in a PT Anderson film!!! The horror!!! I knew I would have to see it (heck, Mr Anderson could film a chocolate digestive crumbling into a cup in a four hour sequence and I would want to watch it), but Sandler....SANDLER!! The guy is everything that is wrong with America (which is why all Americans think he is so great). He is unfunny, talent less, and imbecilic. He insists on writing most of his own "jokes", and surrounds himself with sycophants who re-assure him he is wonderful. Damn, PT, why Sandler?

Well, I sit here typing this review, and must offer my heartfelt apologies to Mr Anderson, and Mr Sandler. You see, I have just ate my hat! The film was truly enjoyable, and Mr Sandler was indeed perfect for the role. I so wanted to be able to review this saying that it would have been great, but for Adam Sandler, but I can't.

Adam plays Barry Egan, an oddly insecure toilet plunger salesman with a bit of an emotional problem (made worse by the constant irritation of his seven sisters). One day a mysterious woman (played by Emily Watson) walks into his life, and insists on staying. Romance seems possible, if only he can overcome he own problems, oh, and the fact that he is being blackmailed by a phone-sex line. Throw in some washes of colour, a baffling car-crash, a group of thug brothers, and a cool soundtrack, and it appears that PT has done it again.

I suppose the only criticism I have of this film is that it isn't long enough to be a PT Anderson film. There should be another hour or more, and I want it, dammit! The cast are so marvellous to watch, especially Hoffman as Dean Trumbell, the boss of the blackmailer. Sandler proves that so long as he doesn't write any of the lines he can really act, and I actually felt for Barry as he tried his best to handle the bizarre situations thrown at him. Watson is on usually top form as Lena, the love interest.

Dammit Anderson for making me type a review of an Adam Sandler film that is not just watch able, but also can be described as brilliant, and maybe even masterpiece. This doesn't mean that I will like any other Sandler flick, though. I have a nagging suspicion that he will return to the trash that he normally makes once more, and my never show his true talent again. A shame really, because for a moment there he had me fooled into thinking he was a great actor.

Punch Drunk Love is a film that will capture your imagination, play with your heart-strings, make you feel really good for the world, and ask the question "What the heck was that car-crash about?"