Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Punch-Drunk Love (2002) - Sandler breaks out of his routine in Anderson's delightful romcom

8/20/2023

Punch-Drunk Love (2002) - Sandler breaks out of his routine in Anderson's delightful romcom

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A wonderful still image of a kiss with wavy dark, mellow colors underneath makes up this elegant poster for Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love

Barry lives in his own socially cautious world, in which he is saving up a ton of frequent flier miles by purchasing pudding. Then he meets a woman, who knocks him off his feet and gets him to fly for the first time in his life, - to Hawaii.

Punch-Drunk Love is written, co-produced and directed by Californian master filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (Hard Eight (1996)), whose 4th film it is.

It is strange to enter the anxiety-ridden world of Barry; well-achieved through feministically-diabolical sisters, led by Mary Lynn Rajskub (Hero Mode (2021)), and an untraditional, unharmonic score (by Jon Brion (Lady Bird (2017))). The film also has neat if strangely, purposely 'off' cinematography (by Robert Elswit (Inherent Vice (2014))).

SPOILER A phone sex subplot and Philip Seymour Hoffman (A Late Quartet (2012)) work exceedingly well as elements in Punch-Drunk Love and both are also some of its original parts. Adam Sandler (The Wedding Singer (1998)) and Emily Watson (Chernobyl (2019, miniseries)) are a delightful match. The film is a salute to the first, overwhelming feelings of falling in love.

The Master (2012) - Anderson's stunning post-war reflection

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Boogie Nights (1997) - Anderson's irresistible porn 'Casino'

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Hard Eight (1996) - Anderson debuts with downbeat crime drama

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 30 mil. $

Box office: 24.6 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.82 times its cost)

[Punch-Drunk Love premiered 19 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 95 minutes. The film came about due to Anderson's fandom of Sandler and his wish to make a 90-minute romcom with him. Sandler was paid 7 mil. $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place from February - March 2001 in Hawaii and California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #23 to a 367k $ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 1,293 theaters (different weeks), grossing 17.8 mil. $ (72.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 1.6 mil. $ (6.5 %) and Australia with 840k $ (3.4 %). It was nominated for a Golden Globe and won Anderson the Best Director prize at Cannes (tied with Im Kwon-taek for Painted Fire), among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Anderson returned with Jon Brion: Here We Go (2002, music video), Couch (2003, video) and theatrically with There Will Be Blood (2007). Sandler returned in Mr. Deeds (2002); Watson in Red Dragon (2002). Punch-Drunk Love is certified fresh at 79 % with a 7.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Punch-Drunk Love?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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8/20/2023

Punch-Drunk Love (2002) - Sandler breaks out of his routine in Anderson's delightful romcom

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