Punch-Drunk Love: PTA gets the best of Adam

"Boggie Nights" "Magnolia" on one side "The Waterboy" and "Big Daddy" on the other, it sounds like a big jump, from brilliant filmmaking, to goofy entertainment, turns out that these two world could collide, and that the result can be a very Brilliant one, and it can even win it's director, Cannes Film Festival best director award, the year David Lynch presided the jury.

Adam Sandler, plays Barry a small novelty business man in a blue suit who owns a small company, doing pretty well for himself, just that he is abused by a cast of seven sisters, Barry has no luck in love, Barry lacks self confidence, Barry is lonely, and finally Barry is into sex phone.

a car accident occurs, a harmonium is dropped near his office, and a mysterious woman enters his life, the shy and insecure barry, ends up Travelling to Hawaii, Destroying private property, Beating some people up, Driving to the other side of the country, confronting all those who abused and frightned him, and having the most passionate romance of his life, while he finds a way to travel long distances using pudding.

Paul Thomas Anderson the man behind "magnolia" and "boogie nights" and one of the "rogue A list Directors" delivers a beautiful tale of a marginal abused man, whose destiny changes, it's about frustration, self doubt, and things which happen to us when we expect them less.

one might think that the role was written specifically for Sandler, but the fact is that several other actors were linked to this project, but he delivers a great performance, and has a great cast to support him, from the beautiful and fragile Emily Watson (breaking the waves, remember ??),
Luis Guzman, Philippe Seymour Hoffman, it's as if it was a "character actors reunion" they all play roles of outcast people who are still trying to make it after they seemingly lost the three first rounds of their lives.

The music is another character in the movie, it's etheral, composed by Jon Brion, featuring a heavy use of harmonium, and you will find yourself humming the tune "he loves me" for some time after that, and at the end you will see the great ending sequence by the late video artist Jeremy Black, who died after that movie, and that's adds a layer of melancoly to a sweet malancolic film made by a melancolic director, and expressing the ambiang melancoly a lot of people swim in, and one last thing David Lynch, as president of jury watched the film from beginning to end including the titles, which is maybe the greatest hommage a filmmaker can get.


Jebbiness: 4/5