Punch-Drunk Love Review
by Robin Clifford (robin AT reelingreviews DOT com)October 22nd, 2002
"Punch-Drunk Love"
Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) owns a startup business selling novelty toilet plungers. He also is the only boy in his family of seven sisters, has anger management problems, may be a sociopath loner and has zilch for a love life. Then, two things happen. He comes up with a loophole in a frequent flyer giveaway that earns him over a million miles of free airfare for a pittance and he meets Lena Leonard (Emily Watson) in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Punch-Drunk Love."
Based on the true-life story about the man that became known throughout the airline industry as the Pudding Guy, David Phillips, who found a way to take advantage of a flaw in the Healthy Choice Frequent Flyer giveaway. By purchasing a mere $3000 worth of that company's pudding cups in a advertising promotion he was able to earn 1.25 million miles of free air fare. Writer/director Anderson takes this premise and built it into a funky, quirky little romance that reps a change for Sandler even as he does his usual shtick.
In a departure from the large ensemble casts in "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia," Anderson has created a minimalist film that delves solely into the mind and character of Barry Egan. Barry has some deep-seated emotional issue after growing up in a predominantly female household. (At a family party, they all keep reminding him that they always called him "gay boy" when he was young.) This past and Barry's present penchant to keep to himself, often with bouts of uncontrolled crying, make the man an outsider to normal society. Then, he meets a pretty young lady named Lena (Watson) who likes him despite his oddball behavior. Meanwhile, he stumbles upon the huge flaw in the Healthy Choice free air miles giveaway. Of course, for a man who has amassed enough air miles to travel for the rest of his life for free, Barry has never been on an airplane.
Things seem to being going great for Egan except for one minor problem. In a fit of loneliness, he makes a call to a phone "companion" line and gives his name, address, phone number, credit card number and social security number after being assured by "Georgia," his phone friend, that it would all be kept strictly confidential. The next morning, Barry gets a call from Georgia demanding that he give her money or she will call his girlfriend. He ignores the threat (Lena is not in the picture quite yet) and is jumped one night by Georgia's four blond brothers and forced to pay up $500. As Barry and Lena grow close, he takes a firm hand in getting a grip on himself and what is really important in his life.
I think, perhaps, that Anderson has taken a too minimalist approach to his adapted material. Economically edited to about 90 minutes, even this seems like too much time for the sparse story and character study presented. There really isn't a great deal to Barry Egan's character. He has sometimes uncontrolled bouts of violence - kicking out his sister's all glass doors and trashing a restaurant bathroom - and is not the best at interpersonal interaction. Besides the violent streak, Barry isn't a bad guy, just boring. Sandler uses his tried-and-try mannerisms and halting speech and does make Barry, Barry, but it is not a stretch.
Like the film, there is a minimalism of other characters when compared to Anderson's previous works. Emily Watson is merely OK as the slightly enigmatic Lena. She is pretty and compliments Barry nicely (they look good together), but she doesn't give her usually precise performance and, occasionally, her American accent takes on a brief veddy-veddy British lilt. The real treat in "Punch-Drunk Love" is a wonderfully loud, faux menacing performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman as Dean, the sleazy boss of the phone sex operation that is bilking Barry. His standalone performance - shouting and cursing over the phone to intimidate - is only surpassed when Barry confronts Dean in person. Barry's sisters are an underutilized resource for family angst comedy as are the blond brothers stalking Barry. Both story lines rep unexplored opportunity. Then again, with Andeson's minimalist approach, their extended inclusion would have defeated the plan. A little more would have been better, though.
Techs are generally good except for some amateur looking camera work early on that takes on a more conventional sweep as the film progresses. Costume design (by Mark Bridges) showcases with the electric blue suit that Barry adopts as his main wardrobe. Production design is nicely varied with the starkness of Barry's work place and Lena's apartment building contrasted by the lushness when their story takes them to Hawaii. Music, by Anderson collaborator Jon Brion, has an edgy quality that fits the tone set by quirky Barry. The use of Shelly Duval's heartfelt rendition of He Needs Me from "Popeye" adds a nice romantic interlude to offset the edge.
The unexplored story opportunities of "Punch-Drunk Love" may have worked against the maker's minimalist intent but it is an interesting exercise by talented writer/director Anderson. I give it a B.
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