Punch-Drunk Love

Though saddled with as slight a storyline as one could imagine, Punch-Drunk Love nevertheless establishes itself as yet another endlessly compelling and intricately layered effort from filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson. The movie casts Adam Sandler as Barry Egan, a tragic figure who tentatively embarks upon a relationship with Emily Watson’s Lena Leonard. Anchored by Sandler’s very best performance and Anderson’s astounding directorial choices, the film comes off as a unique, downright compelling piece of work virtually from the word go. Anderson, working with cinematographer Robert Elswit, has infused Punch-Drunk Love with an almost avant-garde visual sensibility that suits the material perfectly, and there’s little doubt that this vibe is cemented by the director’s judicious use of both Jon Brion’s playful score and Jeremy Blake’s vibrant artwork. Sandler and Watson’s palpable chemistry together surely plays a key role in the film’s success, while Philip Seymour Hoffman delivers precisely the sort of scene-stealing performance as the villainous Dean Trumbell that one might’ve expected. More than anything, however, Punch-Drunk Love succeeds as a portrait of a lonely, almost staggeringly introverted individual; though Barry suffers from anger-control problems and he’s prone to random bouts of sobbing, the character never comes off as anything less than a fully-realized figure that one can’t help but sympathize with. The end result is a film that’s almost flawless in its execution and indelible in its impact, and there’s little doubt that Punch-Drunk Love is (and always will be) the crowning achievement within Anderson’s filmography.

**** out of ****