While certainly sweet, Love is more compelling as a veiled threat, with Anderson jerking the audience around, wielding abrasive characters and hostile situations in a manner I've come to adore.
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12/28/09
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Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
79
%
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Reviews Counted:180
Fresh:142
Rotten:38
Average Rating:7.4/10
Consensus: Punch-Drunk Love is weird and delightfully funny, even though Sandler essentially plays the same character he has always played in all his movies.
Theatrical Release:Oct 11, 2002 Limited
Box Office: $17,791,031
Synopsis: Paul Thomas Anderson follows 1999's MAGNOLIA with the intensely compelling character study PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE. Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) is a quiet, shy, socially awkward man with an office in an... [More]
Starring: Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzman
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
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Reviews for Punch-Drunk Love
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04/29/09
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10/18/08
Shots, such as when Sandler and Watson kiss in silhouette, are truly memorable -- but Punch-Drunk Love is never more than this: a series of chocolate-box moments, PT-style.
05/28/08
...Punch-Drunk Love is (and always will be) the crowning achievement within Anderson's filmography.
01/03/08
It's a romantic comedy on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
11/01/07
Top CriticIt's clear by now that whatever characterization skill Anderson showed in his lean, mean debut, 1997's Hard Eight, was a fluke.
09/22/07
A trifle at 89 minutes with a genuine, heartfelt performance by Mr. Sandler, and not much else.
07/14/07
The film looks good and has its funny moments, but too often one senses Anderson straining to impress...
06/24/06
Paul Thomas Anderson used Sandler for a very specific purpose -to convey a sense of tough-luck awkwardness and smile-masking-frown frustration, and it worked perfectly.
01/04/06
It's a very idiosyncratic take on the genre, but it works because of Anderson's ability to challenge viewer expectations.
12/06/05
Anderson is simply punch-drunk on the possibilities of cinema, and sophisticated film lovers will be more than willing to go wherever he goes -- yes, even to an Adam Sandler movie.
12/06/05
What really makes this movie so special, apart from the revelation that Adam Sandler can act, is the direction.
09/30/05
Punch-drunk Love reminds me of why I go to movies in the first place. To be challenged, surprised, transported, inspired, and exhilarated.
01/15/05
The elements of tragedy aren't life and death issues in this movie, and Anderson's film wisely contains itself to the microcosm of this one man's beleaguered existence.
02/01/04
[I]t’s no secret that... certain films [are] critic’s darlings... leav[ing] moviegoers vowing never to trust a critic again. This season [it's] Punch-Drunk Love.
01/01/04
Unlike any romantic comedy this year, with a vision so wondrously off-kilter that you’ll be swept off your feet by it, even if you don’t fall in love at first sight.
12/01/03
No cumple con todas las expectativas, pero sigue siendo uno de los directores más originales y talentosos que el cine norteamericano tiene para ofrecer.
11/23/03
Gimmicks in search for a heart and a soul.
10/15/03
In his effort to 'redefine' the romantic comedy, Anderson has made a film that is neither romantic nor funny.
09/06/03
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