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Poster (c) Columbia/Tristar
Could Adam Sandler be turning into Jim Carrey? They both started out in slob comedies (Billy Madison, Ace Ventura), then tried their hand at serious acting (Punch-Drunk Love, The Majestic), and now has done a combination (Punch-Drunk Love again, Anger Management). Just like Carrey can be a good actor when he tries, so can Sandler. His work in this movie really blew me away. Just like Philip Seymour Hoffman does in most of his movies (besides this one), he can play a sad-sack loser very well.
The real winner, however, is the script by the director, Paul Thomas Anderson. It’s simply beautiful in its simplicity. It sounds like a basic story, a man with his own small business, but it soon transcends into one of the most original stories I have ever seen. Besides that, it shows basically everything from Sandler’s point of view. His love interest, the charming Emily Watson, is underwritten, but that’s because we know about as much about her as Sandler (Barry Egan) does. It’s very hard to explain, you just need to see it to understand.
The beautifully done plot has Barry working at his own company, one that produces plungers, or “fungers”, as he calls them. He’s dominated by his seven sisters; for instance, three of them call to make sure he’s going to a party in about three minutes, during an important meeting. He’s lonely, and one day, on a whim calls a phone-sex company, who takes all of his information. Barry is asked the next day by the person he had phone-sex with for money, but when Barry doesn’t give any to her, her siblings, including the hilarious Dean Trumbell (Philip Seymour Hoffman) go out and try to get money from him. Soon, however, Barry falls in love with Lena (Watson), adding another interesting point to the plot.
Although the subplot with Barry and Lena doesn’t come into play until about half of the movie has been seen, it’s probably the most substantial out of everything: his business, phone-sex, and purchasing pudding to gather frequent flyer miles (someone actually did this). Watson gave the charm needed for her role, and I believed the romance between the two. With only knowing one character for 90 minutes, and one for 45, it’s amazing what Anderson’s script did. The pudding played a larger role as the movie went on, and everything was involved with each other.
Like all good movies should, there’s a whole lot of symbolism, most of which I didn’t understand. In the beginning, a car flips over on the street and a small harmonium is dropped off by a truck. What they mean, I have no idea. The pudding, however, does: it’s how Barry can work for whatever he wants. He almost always wears the color blue, and color plays an important role, although I don’t know what either of them mean.
Sandler puts in an amazing job in his loser role. He can play it extremely life like. However, I think the main reason I loved him in this role so much is because I could relate to him. I couldn’t help but feeling like I was going to be Barry Egan when I grew up. He’s exactly like me, and I now know what’s going to happen to me when I become older. Plus, I loved his blue suit! Watson played her role like roles like that are supposed to be: charming and cute. She did that to perfection. Everyone’s favorite, Luis Guzman, puts in his usual supporting role.
The cinematography was simply amazing. It wasn’t like the films of today, where there are cuts every two seconds. Instead, entire scenes were done with one take, and one long, sweeping camera movement. Amazing is what you could say to describe this short, but mesmerizing film that will sweep you off your feet.
Rated R for strong language including a scene of sexual dialogue.
Review Date: July 6, 2003