zoë rose bryant’s review published on Letterboxd:
“I don’t like myself sometimes. Do you think you could help me?”
“Barry, I’m a dentist.”
Punch-Drunk Love is truly a wild, wild film with many dissonant elements that shouldn’t quite fit together (imagine daring to intercut your understated romance with overblown subplots about phone sex and stolen identity and violent stalker thugs) but by some miracle, they do.
Its off-kilter tone and irreverent sense of humor won’t always sit well with most, and the harsh score may grate on some, but I find that PTA’s risky choices here really pay off at placing you directly in the anxiety-ridden mindset of Sandler’s Barry Egan; we feel every uncomfortable encounter on a palpable level, and our brains this uneasiness just as his does.
Sandler legitimately turns in career-best work, and his chemistry with Emily Watson is instantly infectious. All-in-all, its just such a charming little love story that always comes back to acknowledge its heart, even when you think the plot may be getting out of hand. Never mind that - Anderson knows exactly what he’s doing.
“I have so much strength in me. You have no idea. I have a love in my life. It makes me stronger than anything you can imagine.”
