Punch-Drunk Love (2002) Review

“That’s that”

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

We all know it’s not easy to find love, but sometimes the results can be worthwhile by the end of it.


PLOT


Punch-Drunk Love follows Barry Egan who works in Los Angeles as a small business owner selling novelty items & toilet plungers. Whenever he sees either of his seven sisters, they constantly ridicule him to the point of violent outbursts. In one occasion, he asks his brother in law refer him to a therapist to cope with his loneliness. That personal feeling starts changing however when he meets a lady named Lena Leonard, a coworker to one of his sisters, Elizabeth (Mary Lynn Rajskub). He even picks up an abandoned harmonium on the street and brings it to his office. One night at home, he tries out phone sex but the operator Georgia (Ashley Clark) tries extorting money from him and sends her four brothers to collect. That happens after Lena asks him out. This also puts him at risk to exploit his loophole of a Healthy Choice promotion and amass a million frequent flyer miles by purchasing large quantities of pudding.  When he finds out Lena is heading to Hawaii, he ends up following her and gets Elizabeth to help him find her. When he does, Lena would be overjoyed to see him and their romance would continue developing from there, freeing him from emotional isolation. When returning to LA, Georgia’s brothers ram Barry’s car and he fights them all of with a tire iron. With Lena mildly injured, he sends her to the hospital and leaves her there so he can put an end to this private harassment. He ends up calling the supervisor Dean, a mattress store owner that chooses to dismiss the accusations instead of finding common ground. This leads to Barry tracking him down in Utah to express determination of putting this behind them. Seeing how intimidating he actually is, Dean finally agrees that’s that. When Barry returns home explaining to Lena why the accident happened, he begs for forgiveness and pledges loyalty to her. The film ends with her embracing him as the only thing that really bothered her was being left at the hospital. 


THOUGHTS


We all have those movies that introduce us to a filmmaker we respect to the point where their names make movies eventful. This was my introduction to Paul Thomas Anderson and this feels like the great place to start because it feels so easy to be enamored with a plot so unusual and yet that is what makes it so amusing. With beautiful cinematography by Robert Elswit, you’re reminded on how beautiful of a journey it can be to find love even in the most unusual circumstances. That would then make the journey all the more memorable because it’s the kind that can never be perfect. And in a way, Anderson teaches how love empowers us, inspiring us to bring out our best selves which he encapsulates through a performance that I grow to love the more I think about it. This is the first time Adam Sandler breaks apart from his formula of slapstick formula and tries something heavily dramatic, yet still works as a dark comedy due to how smooth the delivery and physicality works. As Barry, you instantly relate to his inner rage he unleashes at every moment he takes because we all hate being brought down by those that are supposed to be peers. He never says how he feels because he never really felt encouraged to do so and for the first time, someone took a chance on him to see all the love he can give. Enter Emily Watson who also steals our hearts as Lena because she’s a perceptive lady who knows what she wants due to past relationships. Every time she heard about Barry, she felt something special about him hence going out of her way to meet him before Elizabeth factors in. She is so open to his erratic behavior because she gets that’s him being him, something that was missing in her past. And because she accepts him so quickly, he’s inspired to do more than the usual, which is facing his problems. You definitely laugh at how Philip Seymour Hoffman portrays Dean as a shady businessman who doesn’t respect the vulnerability of clientele that seek connection that he learns the hard way that’s an emotion to not be fucked with. The fact Barry tracked him down proved the exact point. Lena could’ve left for taking too long in being honest, but the fact he chose to be honest sooner than later proves how much she’s changed him for the better. Off of that, they deserve an untouchable happily ever after. In short, Punch-Drunk Love is one of Anderson’s many best films for showing us how powerful the light of guidance can be if you let it. If you want a love story that drives you to do more than you already know, see this now.