Open iTunes to preview, buy, and download this movie.
Plot Summary
Winner of the Best Director Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, "this misfit love story of disconnected people trying to find one another in an antagonistic world is a comedy of discomfort and rage that turns unexpectedly sweet and pure." Adam Sandler gives an amazing and unusual performance as Barry Egan, a socially impaired owner of a small novelty business, who is dominated by seven sisters and is unlikely to find love unless it finds him. When a mysterious woman comes into his life, his emotions go haywire, fluctuating between uncontrollable rage, lust and self-doubt. "Punch-Drunk Love leaves you addled, a little dizzy and overcome by a pleasing, unplaceable sensation." "A romantic comedy as wonderful as it is strange that expands the genre to its absurdist outer limits and makes us believe." From the writer/director of Boogie Nights and Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love is a dark, lovely and unique film experience.
Credits
Director
Screenwriter
Producers
Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
79%- Reviews Counted: 184
- Fresh: 145
- Rotten: 39
- Average Rating: 7.4/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Fresh: Despite its title, Punch-Drunk Love is never heavy-handed. The jabs it employs are short, carefully placed and dead-center.
Fresh: It's a romantic comedy on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Fresh: [Anderson] uses a hit-or-miss aesthetic that hits often enough to keep the film entertaining even if none of it makes a lick of sense.
Rotten: The journey toward redemption feels more like a cinematic experiment than a full-blown movie.
Customer Reviews
Amazing, flawless execution
Punch-Drunk Love is a brilliant and engaging movie. The direction is sparse and purposeful, allowing one to take a full dose of the seamless story and exceptional acting. After watching him for thirty seconds, one forgets that this is Adam Sandler, every one of his characters in other movies is instantly forgotten, as if done by another actor. Almost certainly on purpose, the movie is slowly paced and methotical, building to a shocking and terrific ending. I recommend this movie to EVERYONE on one condition: it is not a typical comedy, rather a flawless rendering of how seemingly simple storytelling can be so effective when the director/writer has a singular vision and follow it compleatly to it's end. A misunderstood masterpiece.
Adam Sandler's best movie (4.5 mics)
After I saw "There Will Be Blood" and was blown away from how well made the movie was, I got more and more interested in Paul Thomas Anderson's previous films. So I decided to rent Punch Drunk Love because, I was stunned to see Adam Sandler in a movie that is far beyond his style of work. So I have to say this is probrobly the best made movie he'll ever be in. The movie shows the true form of how lonely human beings could be. Philip Semour Hofman was excellent as well (even though he only played quit a small part) so if your interested in seeing a great, unique, and interesting movie rent this.
Anyone who uses "He Needs Me" from Popeye is the BOMB!
This is one of my favorite movies. When I first saw the trailer I was like, "Wow! Where have I heard that 'He Needs Me' song!" Then I had a flashback to one of my childhood heroes. POPEYE! Not only my hero, but an awful musical movie with Robin Williams. BUT, it did bring back memories. And any guy who's gonna use that song in his movie, I gonna watch. And I did, and it was really really good! PTA also used the "The Touch" from the Transformers: The Movie for Boogie Nights. Crazy director! But great! Anyway, PDL, one of my favorites.
Viewers Also Bought
- I Heart Huckabees
- David O. Russell
- View In iTunes
- Submarine
- Richard Ayoade
- View In iTunes
- A Serious Man
- Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
- View In iTunes
- Lars and the Real Girl
- Craig Gillespie
- View In iTunes
- Greenberg
- Noah Baumbach
- View In iTunes
- $12.99
- Genre: Comedy
- Released: 2002
- © 2002 Revolution Studios Distribution Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.