Punch-Drunk Love: at last, a really good Adam Sandler film (no, honest)
At the weekend saw Punch-Drunk Love (2002) on Sky Movies (so if you’ve got Sky and haven’t seen it, you still can).
Amazing. I’ve never rated Adam Sandler before; but this was a remarkable performance of a man navigating the Scylla and Charybdis of nervous breakdown and rage, and occasionally getting sucked into and then spat out by one or the other. It’s directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, who directed Magnolia (who can forget Tom Cruise in that? “Respect the..” Yes, Tom, thank you.)
One thing that truly set this film apart is the music, which provides an undertone of unease, like a Tom Waits interlude or Peter Gabriel’s No Self Control (iTunes Music Store URL). Love to know who did that; it wasn’t clear from the credits.
- These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
- Terrible trailer, great film: Le Concert goes against the flow - so when else has a trailer undersold a film? (18 September 2010; score: 54.07%)
- If celebrity magazines had honest titles... (19 August 2004; score: 42.12%)
- United 93: the briefest review (20 August 2007; score: 40.12%)
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November 16th, 2004 at 12:13 am
Yup, absolutely agree on this one- the moment of righteous anger that he has with a crowbar was startlingly well acted, I thought. Philip Seymour-Hoffman’s performance was also excellent- a real creep; also watch Happiness if you’re looking for variations upon a dark theme.
November 16th, 2004 at 10:17 am
if you have not seen it, 8 crazy nights is another possibility for not barring Adam Sandler from Hollywood entirely. A little incohesive but some excellent ideas in there…
November 18th, 2004 at 3:19 am
I didn’t care much for the Punch-Drunk movie. Maybe I didn’t really get the whole point of the movie. I thinkit was a bit weird. I think my favorite movie is Happy Gilmore