I was expecting a better story from Paul Thomas Anderson
Punch-Drunk Love (2002) - **
Based on the critical acclaim it has received, I had high hopes for this movie. Unfortunately, I was let down. I guess it's supposed to be sort of a romantic comedy, but I didn't think it was funny at all and the romance was a little too unbelievable for me. Emily Watson's character was the most normal character in the movie and I couldn't understand what she would see in Adam Sandler's character. He was a little too strange for my taste, and that's saying a lot for him. I guess I can take him as a funny weirdo, but not a serious one. The whole part of the movie dealing with the phone sex service gone wrong seemed lame to me. And though I liked the part about the Healthy Choice airline miles, it didn't really seem to go anywhere. I was expecting a better story from Paul Thomas Anderson. His last film, Magnolia, was one of my favorites from the 90s, but Punch-Drunk Love left me flat.
Realize what the intention of the film is
Upon seeing "Punch-Drunk Love," I came in expecting it to be short and indeed it was. I honestly don't think you should review a film for how much you should expect it to be. I mean this is a filmmaker who wants to make the film the way he sees it. So if you guys loved "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia" think that a filmmaker shouldn't be programmed to meet your expectations. You should be open and actually appreciate what someone like Paul Thomas Anderson was trying to say. If you have a positive or negative feeling on any of his films that's ok because the test really is to see whether a motion picture did in fact work for you or not. But expectations for something just ignores that artists want to create original work and something they feel they want the audience to see.
I agree, self-consciously weird, but not good
I agree with the initial posting. It seems many critics like PDL because it's such an unusual film. Granted, it is, but it's weirdness is so artificial and self-conscious, the film is more annoying than funny. Also, you're right, the relationship between Lenna and Barry seems completely arbitrary as well. I didn't see any emotional basis for it, and there is zero chemistry between the two.
This is one of those rare films in which I think the general public has made a better assessment than critics. I talk with a couple people who saw PDL after the showing I went to and we all had the same reaction: The film is the worst kind of strange; annoying and emotionally opaque.
Punch Drunk Love--leaves you feeling flat?
I want to put in a strong vote in favor of Punch Drunk Love as one of the most interesting movies of the year. I’m glad there are plenty of people out there who love Boogie Nights and Magnolia and have even gone back and watched Hard Eight, but I don’t think there’s any need to compare and find PDL wanting because somehow it doesn’t stack up to those, which are, after all, all pretty different from each other.
I’m old enough to remember seeing Antonioni’s L’Avventura when it first came out and I saw it with my father in NYC. Afterwards we both agreed it had made us feel very uncomfortable, but that we had loved it nonetheless. It won the big prize at Cannes for creating “a new cinematic language.” Punch Drunk Love challenges the viewer and what I remember most from it is how strange it seemed, not just Adam Sandler’s character, but the way the scenes moved, especially the minimalist sequence at the beginning. For me each successive sequence had an edge, and a freshness, and that’s what stays with me as pleasure, as the sense of experiencing a “new cinematic language.” P.T. Anderson is a real movie genius, kind of like what Orson Welles was when he made Citizen Kane. His movies may be highly allusive and this one is particularly quirky, but they have a visceral effect. If PDL leaves you feeling flat, maybe you were having a bad day. It’s harder to tune in to something that’s original and a good portion of the audience doesn’t usually “get” the great stuff when it first appears. Later it seems really nice to have been there for the experience.