Punch-Drunk Love: Difference between revisions

{{quote| "I have a love in my life. [[The Power of Love|It makes me stronger than anything you can imagine]]."<br|'''Barry />Egan'''}}

''[[Punch -Drunk Love]]'' (2002) tells the story of Barry Egan ([[Adam Sandler]]), an introverted, sweet but socially inept [[Man Child]], whose life revolves around his novelty plunger business (''Fun-gers'') and attempts to extricate himself from the domineering influence of his seven sisters. His interests mainly include buying up large quantities of pudding to take advantage of their air miles offer, and using phone sex lines to alleviate his loneliness.

Then one day, [[Added Alliterative AppealAlliteration|Lena Leonard]] ([[Emily Watson]]) walks into his life, and everything changes.

''Punch -Drunk Love'' is notable as one of [[Paul Thomas Anderson|P.T. Anderson's]] low-key works, made between the epics ''[[Magnolia]]'' and ''[[There Will Be Blood]]'', and for showcasing the dramatic chops of [[Adam Sandler]] while simultaneously being a warped [[Post Modern]] take on the [[Romantic Comedy]] and [[Adam Sandler]] movies in general.

* [[Angrish]]: "SHUT UP! SHUT THE [[Precision F-Strike|FUCK]] UP! Shut up, will you SHUTUP SHUTUP! SHUT SHUT SHUT SHUT SHUTUP... SHUTUP! NOW [*[[Beat]]]* Are you threatening me, dick?"

* [[Anticlimax]]: Barry is frantically [and painfully] running from the Four Blonde Brothers when they drive past him and casually remind Barry that "''they know where he lives''". Barry stops running after this. They show up later and crash his car. {{spoiler|Barry gets out and smashes their truck with a crowbar, flies to meet their boss, and gets him to back down. In the words of the Matress Man, "That's, that."}}

* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]: See [[The Power of Love]] below.

* [[Deconstruction]]: The movie takes the typical [[Billy Madison]] / [[Happy Gilmore]]-style [[Adam Sandler]] character and almost brutally deconstructs him, showing the real-life consequences of his behavior, and how dangerous such a person would feel to you if you actually met one.

* [[Determinator]]: "I'd say, 'That's that, [[Added Alliterative AppealAlliteration|Mattress Man]].'"

* [[Florence Nightingale Effect]]: Part of why Lena seems so besotted with Barry is that he's so helpless. Lampshaded by the soundtrack with the song ''"He Needs Me''".

* [[Homage]]: The soundtrack contains the song ''"He Needs Me''" from [[Robert Altman]]'s ''[[Popeye (film)|Popeye]]'' film. Also, the supermarket where Barry shops bears a remarkable similarity to the supermarket photographed by Andreas Gursky in his picture ''99 Cent''.

* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: The Mattress Man and his gang consistently call Barry a "pervert". You know, for calling a phone sex line that THEY OPERATE.

** It seems to be a trap for blackmailing people out of money. It seems they feel justified in their actions due to their victims being pervs.

* [[Iris Out]]: A particularly sweet example, as the Iris centrescenters on Barry and Lena's hands clasped together and actually follows it as they disappear around a corner.

{{quote| '''Barry''': I wanted to ask you something because you're a doctor. I don't like myself sometimes. Can you help me? <br />

'''Walter''': Barry— [[Crowning Moment of Funny|I'm a dentist]]. }}

* [[Ripped from the Headlines]]: Barry's Pudding/Frequent Flyer Miles plan was based on [http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,996450,00.html an article] P.T. Anderson read in [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' Magazine]] about a civil engineer called David Phillips who did pretty much the same thing.

** Read more about it in [http://www.cracked.com/article_18753_the-6-most-creative-abuses-loopholes.html?wa_user1=2&wa_user2=Weird+World&wa_user3= this] [[Cracked.com]] article&wa_user4=recommended here]. (#5)

[[Category:PunchThe DrunkCriterion LoveCollection]]