Grade:  B

Director:  Paul Thomas Anderson		Released:  November 2002
Writer:  Paul Thomas Anderson		MPAA Rating:  R
Players:  Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Luis Guzman, Philip Seymour Hoffman		Running time:  95 minutes

Ratings System

Punch-Drunk Love is a great film.  It's one of those films that feels right and makes me happy I saw it.  The story is tight (with one exception, noted below), the love story works, the acting is great, I just love this picture.  It's also nice and short, easily digestible.  There's a scene where Sandler loses it in a bathroom, but the scene is effective in it's short-ness.  Other directors would linger on this scene, showing us each individual punch and kick, Anderson gets in quick and gets out quick.  Another scene involves a car accident that is edited (visually and audioly) just perfectly.  Very well made film.

Generally, I like Adam Sandler comedies (even Little Nicky), he usually plays the same guy in every one of them, and he's playing that guy in this movie too.  It's a quieter, more explosive, more subdued version of that guy, but it's the same guy.  And that's a good thing.  In some ways, that guy represents a generation of angst-filled males.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is an amazing actor.  The breadth of roles he can play is astounding.  From hard-ass mattress salesmen to drag queen singing coach.  I've never seen a bad performance from him. 

Finally, I want to mention the soundtrack.  Olive Oil's song from Popeye is a brilliant addition to this film.  It's a memorable song (crocoWife and I have been singing it for years) that is somehow perfect for this movie.

- crocoPuffs