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11/15/02

Starring: Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Luis Guzman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mary Lynn Rajskub
Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson

Frank’s film tip: Adam Sandler sobers up his critics and fans alike by delivering an uncharacteristically potent performance as a troubled hapless loser in love in the Paul Thomas Anderson riveting comedy romancer Punch-Drunk Love

Who would ever think that an annoying frat boy performer such as Adam Sandler would ever appear in a sensible and refreshingly vigorous thoughtful romantic comedy? In writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson’s insightful and enriching Punch-Drunk Love, Sandler surprisingly shows some sturdy emotional depth by abandoning his usual grating goofball shtick for something more poignant and substantive as a sweetly complex, simple-minded and geeky Everyday Man trying to overcome the isolation in his dreary and empty existence. It figures that it would take a talented and committed filmmaker like the ambitious Anderson to draw out the hidden potential that Sandler has always submerged under his highly popular doofus-oriented routines. Too bad that Sandler didn’t think to hook up with an effective director and a capable cast of supporting players much sooner in his critically checkered movie career. As a result, if the wind blows the right way for the surprisingly effective Sandler, the former Happy Gilmore star will be even more elated should his peers reward him with a prize even more meaningful than his previous box office clout as America’s favorite big screen boob: an Oscar nomination! In short, Punch-Drunk Love is an unconventional tense and quirky love story that shines beyond its boundaries.

Sandler plays Barry Egan, a sympathetic loser who toils all day long at his Los Angeles-based toilet plunger warehouse performing menial tasks. Barry dons a hideously bright blue suit that makes him look like some vertical sad sack blueberry. Barry, to say the least, is the poster boy for being a pitiful sight of awkwardness. Clearly, this man’s lack of self-confidence and fidgetiness speaks volumes. Barry’s simply a plain old social outcast with a penchant for temper tantrums that perhaps is a result of the ball of inner frustration being formed in this poor shlepp’s dangly body. His haunting universe, sad to say, if filled with danger and disappointment and delusion.

Unlike Sandler’s past cinematic goof-off characterizations, Barry Eagan is a melancholy misfit with some serious issues of repressed anger and immense confusion. Part of his chaotic fiber stems from the fact that he’s the only insecure male in a family of seven demanding and abusive sisters. Thus, this may very well explain his emasculated state of mind, low self-esteem and under-achieving tendencies. Boring life withstanding, Barry looks to make some kind of mark the best way he knows how in order to escape the doldrums of his sorrowful livelihood. And so the numbing nitwit engages in some ill-advised activities that range from promotional food flier scams to his desperate involvement in a shady phone-sex operation. Of course the latter episode has the riff raffish owner Dean Trumbell (the always solid Philip Seymour Hoffman) breathing down Barry’ neck who’ll pay the price for his participation in this creepy guy’s sleazy business.

In the meantime, one of Barry’s pesky siblings Elizabeth (Mary Lynn Rajskub) goes out on the limb to set her brother up with a pretty low key and independent gal named Lena Leonard (the reliable Emily Watson). For the first time in a long while Barry feels good about himself as the budding romance starts to develop and essentially make him feel somewhat of a normal and functioning guy who has love to look forward to by liberating him from his obvious downward spiral. Everything starts to gel emotionally for Barry as Lena generously rescued him mentally and psychologically from his prior woes. But the previous entanglements regarding Barry’s web of forbidden dealings will soon come back to haunt the second-rate Casanova. Trumbell’s goons are on Barry’s tail more than a lock-jawed alligator on a piece of blood-dripping meat.

Punch-Drunk Love is an irreverently gutsy and invigorating tale of one flawed clown’s road to redemption via the highway to that number one human condition that’s known to soothe the lonely aching heart: the art of finding love amid life’s constant turmoil. Anderson, the savvy young moviemaker who brought us the equally exceptional and hypnotic films Boogie Nights and Magnolia, has a profound knack for turning off kilter situational experiences into personal mini bleak and powerful humanistic adventures. The filmmaker always seem to incorporate an array of juggling acts into his movie-based themes such as poignancy vs. outrageous glibness, light-hearted frivolity vs. sardonic edginess, intricate subtlety vs. the inkling of expressive exaggeration, etc. It’s no wonder that Anderson’s fearless and tantalizing cheeky exposition won him the share of the Best Director Prize at the last Cannes Film Festival.

As for the Sandler’s notable part in this rich and compelling offbeat romantic offering, his caustic and energetic portrayal of a dunderheaded boor of a different sort will no doubt cause some skeptical critics and his legion of beer-guzzling fans alike to sit up and take notice of his unexpectedly stirring and edgy breakthrough performance. Aided by an eclectic supporting cast of capable players and an exceptional piece of direction, Sandler and company conjure up a lacerating study of rawness and compassionate intensity all forged into a gleefully impish and daring romancer.

If anything, Punch-Drunk Love is about the risky balance of testing one’s soulful strength against a series of crucial setbacks. This film is a charmer that’s smart and savvy about its penetrating message of faith and fury concerning one individual’s quest to find himself in a world that would just assume swallow you up and indiscriminately spit you out. Armed with a bittersweet overtone that’s purely imaginative and daring, Anderson’s masterful fable has an unflinching poetic wryness that works on one’s giddy nerve. Not only is this lyrical showcase an entertaining and involving polished gem, it very well may be one of the best affecting films of the year.

Overall, the emerging of Adam Sadler as an enticing artist with moving range may very well give this ridiculed performer the last laugh for those who got used to hanging the likes of Mr. Deeds over his head. Hey, maybe the snappy effectiveness of Punch-Drunk Love will sober up those who can appreciate the artistry of a bombastic bumbler within the context of an unsparing story of affection and affliction.

Frank rates this film: *** ½ stars (out of 4 stars)