Punch-Drunk Love
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Run Time: 96 min. Format: 35mm Release Year: 2002
Starring: Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Luis Guzmán, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Paul Thomas Anderson, USA, 2002, 35mm, 95 min.
It’s a love story “about a guy with seven sisters; with four blonde crazy brothers coming after him; about getting in tune and finding your music.” (Paul Thomas Anderson) Intended as a small movie between epics MAGNOLIA and THERE WILL BE BLOOD, the big feelings contained in this little picture belie its original intent. Turning in the first “best performance of his career,” Adam Sandler is a maladapted man who copes with his loneliness by calling phone sex lines, ultimately leading to extortion, before meeting and falling in love with Lena (Emily Watson) and embarking on a wild plot to amass a million frequent-flyer miles by exploiting a pudding promo loophole. An absurdist romance, a dizzying, manic blur, deliberately disjointed… something a lot, like, love. Co-starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzman, and featuring a fittingly batty score by Jon Brion. Screening in 35mm!