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Reviewer: Nate Clarke
Several months into my blossoming dating relationship with my now wife, I began to feel a subtle pressure begin to build. There were questions about whether she would continue to fall for me if she really knew who I was. Specifically there was the dreaded conversation of familial and relational history. From my perspective, our entire relationship was building up to that point when the conversation was finally broached. Late at night as we probed some philosophical topic, one of us dared to ask the dreaded question: "What kind of 'baggage' do you bring into this relationship?" Punch Drunk Love, another masterpiece by Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights and Magnolia), takes us on a surrealistic voyage through those same feelings my wife and I felt as we met, courted and pledged our love to one another. Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) is an entrepreneur in the business of supplying hotels with novelty toilet plungers (an irony in itself since I don't think I have ever seen a toilet plunger in a hotel). Barry is at times wonderful and at others intensely frustrating. Barry acts out what the rest of us feel, but wisely chooses to internalize. Many times have I been at a family gathering and in the midst of constant prodding and joking felt like letting out a primal scream. For most people, reason wins out; Barry however openly expresses his rage toward his sisters' constant ribbing by smashing a series of glass windows. I often long to be as honest as Barry but there can be ugly actions, thoughts and words that emerge when the filters get turned off. In Barry Egan we see a man's inner self in all its insecurity and intensity. Barry's seven sisters, a source of constant consternation are determined to set him up with just the right woman. Lena Leonard (Emily Watson) is one of the chosen. She "bumps" into Barry while dropping her car at the mechanic for repairs. Lena is an initiator in pursuit of her prize - a bumbling, temperamental and obsessive-compulsive Barry Egan. She invites him to dinner, requests a kiss, even suggests that Barry fly with her to Hawaii. Barry is afloat in love, yet fear of his past mistakes immobilizes him. As they fall in love, Barry and Lena inhabit a world of white walls and impersonal interactions. Aloof phone operators answer Barry's questions about a Healthy Choice frequent flyer promotion that, if manipulated properly (and legally), will reward Barry with one million frequent flyer miles (resulting in Barry pleading, "I need more pudding for a trip to Hawaii"). A phone sex operator black-mails Barry. A car wreck is met with the fanfare of an ant crossing the street. The world is a cold and sterile place. In the midst of this world stand Barry and Lena. Barry in his bright blue suit and Lena in her glowing fuchsia dress. Even though the world tries to squelch their love, the delirium of what they feel draws them together in embrace. The only thing that can end this relationship is the mistakes of Barry's past. And so Barry must become the pursuer. He must rectify his transgressions so that Lena will not be hurt (literally). He must confess his inner-most fears to this woman that he loves, and who strangely seems to love him in return. By the end of the film, Barry is able to declare: "I have a love in my life — it makes me stronger than anything you can imagine." Love is what rescues Barry from a life of relational ineptitude and failure. The thing that I admire about Paul Thomas Anderson is how gentle he is with his characters. He places them in awkward situations, but not to watch them squirm, rather, to see them grow. You get the sense that while writing this screenplay, Anderson was Barry Egan's biggest advocate. He couldn't just let him traipse through life with no repercussions to his actions. Love is what Anderson wants Barry Egan to experience so he stretches him to the point of breaking, but in doing so, Barry is released from a self created prison of isolation. Punch Drunk Love is probably the most walked-out-on film of the year. Half the culprits expected a gross-out Sandler-fest of flamboyant innuendo and fart jokes. The other half stumbled on the surrealistic world of silence and beauty that Anderson creates; realizing this is not a Julia Roberts romantic comedy, they promptly left for more adequate make out material. This is a challenging film. It is not average cinemaplex fare. Punch Drunk Love communicates transcendent themes not just through the story, but also by visual cues and imagery. It is about a love that pursues. Accompanying that love are fears and anxiety over acceptance. If we look honestly enough, we can see ourselves in Punch Drunk Love. Everybody wants to find a Lena who embodies the unconditional and reckless love we desire and we all feel like Barry in whom we see our insecurities in the face of that love.
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