Cinema Styles: An unconventional movie Punch-drunk Love is a knockout
Punch-drunk Love is the fourth feature film from Paul Thomas Anderson, and this year marks the 20th anniversary of its release. It stars Adam Sandler as Barry Egan, an entrepreneur with severe social anxiety. He has a difficult time expressing his emotions, especially anger; often surfacing in violent outbursts. The film co-stars English actor Emily Watson as Lena Leonard, a coworker of one of Egan’s sisters. This movie is a love story, and an unconventional romantic dramedy about two lonely individuals.
Punch-drunk Love is a movie viewers will either love or hate. There isn’t much middle ground. Personally, the more I view it, the better it gets. The character development is incredibly strong, and the film makes you root for the main protagonists. What turns some viewers off from the film is the strange content and unusual tone. Punch-drunk Love is utterly unique, and it’s for this reason some love the movie and others loathe it.
Most films benefit from going into the viewing void of preconceptions, and with this film, that concept is enhanced astronomically. This is most important in terms of Adam Sandler. This film features the comedic icon’s best acting performance. Over the course of the movie, Sandler breathes life into a complicated human being. He defies, and even subverts, the archetypal “Adam Sandler” character.
Barry Egan is similar to Sandler’s famous characters like Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore. They all share the same personalities: quick to anger and prone to sudden outbursts. With his prior comedy films, these angry moments were played for laughs. In this movie, those moments are examined more closely and psychologically, their dark undercurrents revealed. This film successfully dismantles and rebuilds the trope of Sandler. It surfaces the deep sadness within, and enhances the character Sandler always plays.
Needless to say, this film won’t provide the belly laughs audiences have come to expect from Sandler movies. That said, there are plentiful moments of humor, and most of that is thanks to Adam Sandler’s natural gifts as a comedian.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s previous masterpieces, Boogie Nights and Magnolia, were sprawling epics with an enormous ensemble cast. Punch-drunk Love subverts expectations of P. T. Anderson as a director. The runtime is less than half the length of his prior film. It features only two main characters, instead of the 10plus in his previous movies. While Punch-drunk Love was his first surprising move, Anderson has gone on to direct five more feature films, each continuing to surprise audiences and defy expectations.
To reveal the surprises of Punch-drunk would be to dampen the initial experience of watching this movie. Let’s just say the film features an erotic hotline, a harmonium, seven domineering sisters, and an excessive amount of pudding cups. Go ahead and guess what the plot will be about based on these factors.
Like all great movies, this film succeeds because of the perfect chemistry of the collaborators. Sandler’s performance is enhanced because of his scene partners, especially the quietly intense Emily Watson and the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman is in the film for about five combined minutes, but he nearly steals the movie. His fervent behavior as an actor is on full display in this movie.
Behind the scenes, other contributors prove to be vital to this movie’s cohesive mastery of film as art. Composer Jon Brion’s score is revelatory, creating a propulsive energy that’s an essential element of the movie. Much of it was played on set to help set the tone for the actors. Artist Jeremy Blake provides unique transitions between scenes, blending together various colors. Blake’s tragic death shortly after this movie’s release adds a layer of eeriness to the experience of watching it.
This film urges the viewer to question the purposes behind their own decisions in life. Early on, Egan compulsively acquires particular items, with no specific intention for how they will be used. A key aspect of his journey is the discovery of the value of having a specific purpose behind every decision he makes. It’s an argument to embrace life actively instead of coasting through absentmindedly, and settling for mediocrity.
Punch-drunk love is a weird movie, and that’s meant as a compliment of the highest order. It’s a comically chaotic masterpiece that thinks outside the box, and then destroys it. It gives a left hook and right jab to conventionality, and comfortably rests upon its idiosyncratic ingenuity. Nothing like it exists, and one’s enjoyment of it will depend upon their general acceptance of unusual experiences in life.
Bobby Styles studied Film at UCLA, and worked as an editor and producer on several film, commercial, and music video projects in Los Angeles. He currently teaches the intermediate and advanced Video Production courses in the Multimedia & Technology Academy at Monache High School. His column appears in The Recorder every Tuesday.