Punch-Drunk Love

TomSpeed · Post by **TomSpeed** » Jun 26th 2003, 3:19 pm

I really liked Boogie Nights, which was directed by P. Thomas Anderson. Magnolia, another PTA movie, was okay. I saw Punch-Drunk Love last night. I'm not sure what to think of this movie. Has anyone seen it? Any thoughts?

andrewgd · Post by **andrewgd** » Jun 26th 2003, 4:04 pm

What about Hard Eight? And I'd LOVE to get ahold of a copy of Dirk Diggler Story http://us.imdb.com/Title?0138403

TomSpeed · Post by **TomSpeed** » Jun 26th 2003, 4:14 pm

I haven't seen Hard Eight yet.

Megs · Post by **Megs** » Jun 26th 2003, 4:15 pm

I haven't seen Punch Drunk Love, yet. I am a Sandler fan, so hopefully I will get to see it soon. Did you like it?

You actually reminded me to put that on our must see list. Thanks!

fnordboy · Post by **fnordboy** » Jun 26th 2003, 4:54 pm

TomSpeed wrote:I haven't seen Hard Eight yet.

Hard Eight is a good movie. I enjoyed it a lot when I saw it. Keep an eye out for it , especially since you enjoy his other movies.

I have not seen Punch Drunk Love, not entirely interested in it honestly. I really enjoyed Magnolia, and somewhat enjoyed Boogie Nights, but I really can't stand Adam Sandler. So that has turned me off the movie from the get go.

Eventually I will catch it on cable or end up buying the DVD on a slow day.

TomSpeed · Post by **TomSpeed** » Jun 26th 2003, 5:13 pm

I'm on the fence about Punch-Drunk Love. To be frank, I just didn't understand it. I didn't think it was all that funny. But it's certainly a different kind of movie.

andrewgd · Post by **andrewgd** » Jun 26th 2003, 5:30 pm

It was my understanding that Punch Drunk Love was was a PT Anderson film. Not a Adam Sandler movie.

So whether you love or hate Adam Sandler, it should have no consequence to the movie.

I feel bad for all the poor sops who went in expecting to see Big Daddy 2. Its like the parents who brought their kids to see Princess Mononoke, because it was animated, and thus, must be for kids, right?

Although, I have yet to actually get to watch Punch Drunk Love, so I may be talking out of my ass. But that was the impression I got. PT Anderson, not Adam Sandler.

TomSpeed · Post by **TomSpeed** » Jun 26th 2003, 5:43 pm

I'm a PTA fan. But PDL is obscure. The DVD is a double-disk, but there is no commentary track. I would have loved one. I'm not dissing the movie, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I was expecting more. Maybe the movie will grow on me like Mulholland Drive, which is the closest movie I can think of to PDL.

fnordboy · Post by **fnordboy** » Jun 26th 2003, 5:45 pm

andrewgd wrote:It was my understanding that Punch Drunk Love was was a PT Anderson film. Not a Adam Sandler movie.

It is supposedly a PT Anderson movie and not a Sandler movie. I just don't get why he would use him. It seems more like a ploy to me than the right choice for the movie. I don't know, and I guess I won't till I watch it.

But by saying that its a PT Anderson movie, not a Sandler movie, and implying it shouldn't matter is not correct either. I wouldn't buy a Britney Spears CD just because it was produced by Mike Patton.

TomSpeed · Post by **TomSpeed** » Jun 26th 2003, 7:20 pm

Adam Sandler does a good job in the movie. Who knew Marky Mark could act either? However, there just doesn't seem to be a point or a story. The character development of PDL is very weak. PTA is known for doing wonders with large ensemble casts. But the actors in this movie just seem wasted. PTA's usage of rainbow colors and sound/music does little to advance the story. This failing is surprising given his excellent usage of music in his prior movies. Also I want a commentary track. And the extras on the bonus disk are very lame. I have a good feeling that PTA will put out a SE DVD two years from now, like what happened with Boogie Nights. I wouldn't say PDL is a bad movie. But it could be a better one. It's worth renting. But I'm not sure that I would recommend buying it. I'll give PDL 5 stars out of 10. BN rates 8 1/2 stars. Magnolia rates 7. That's my story. And I'm sticking to it.

meggrrrl · Post by **meggrrrl** » Jun 28th 2003, 8:09 am

Adam Sandler does a good job in the movie. Who knew Marky Mark could act either?

I am a huge PTA freak and have his first 3 films practically memorized. I am NOT an Adam Sandler fan (though I loved him on SNL, but everything since - gag!) but this was my exact thought when I heard PTA was making a movie for him. (It was written with Sandler in mind.) - Everyone thought he was crazy to cast Marky Mark, and it turned out to be an inspired choice (IMO).

Since I've been worshipping at the altar of PTA for the past few years, it is possible that my expectations were to high to ever really give PDL a chance, but I felt let down by it. For the most part it was good, and I was impressed by Sandler, but I don't feel the need to own it and worship it, like I do the otehr three PTA works of art (LOL).

I caught a few interesting PTA-isms - hidden number patters, etc - but still not enough to rope me in. I love PTA for his epic-ness, and I know he was trying to veer away from that in this film. Also, PTA's character development is usually amazing, but the PDL characters are barely developed at all. They're hard to swallow because their strangeness is not explained - because he didn't want to make an epic this time. Too bad. Hopefully PTA will return to doing what he does best, and PDL will only be a shadow - a break from the usual genius!

Meg

dTheater · Post by **dTheater** » Jun 30th 2003, 10:04 pm

I want to echo almost all of what Megs said. I worship PTA and Magnolia is one of my favorite movies ever (as is Boogie Ngiths and Hard Eight or "Sydney" as it was supposed to be). I always enjoyed Adam Sandler on SNL, but I hate his movies (I will admit to liking the Wedding Singer though). But with PDL, I didn't mind Sandler -- in fact I thought he was very good -- however, I also really liked the movie too. It was no Magnolia or Boogie Nights, but I realize not every PTA movie will be. I bought the DVD the day it was released and I watched it as soon as I brought it home. It was something different for PTA, but it wasn't. I wouldn't mind seeing Adam Sandler is another PTA movie as a smaller part of a big cast. The thing I was disappointed in with PDL was the DVD. A 90-minute movie and 30 minutes worth of extras on 2 discs? No commentary? Pointless extras? Certainly there's a huge easter egg on the 2 disc set that I haven't discovered.

To sum up: PTA nut and anti-Adam Sandler, but liked him in this movie and wasn't disappointed by it.

And Hard Eight definitely needs to be seen by everyone. It's completely different from the rest of his catalogue. It's so brilliantly simple and simply brilliant.

andrewgd · Post by **andrewgd** » Jun 30th 2003, 10:52 pm

So is it fair to say that Punch Drunk Love is to Boogie Nights/Magnolia/PTA as Panic Room is to Se7en/Fight Club/Fincher?

From what I hear about them, they both seem to be the movie they did to relax from the huge movies they'd done before. And just like Se7en and Boogie Nights made names for their directors, their next movie was much more work than their last. And then they needed a break; thus PDL and Panic Room.

meggrrrl · Post by **meggrrrl** » Jul 1st 2003, 9:00 am

Wow, what a great insight! I think that's about right. I just saw Panic Room on HBO by the way, and was disappointed by it. I'm not a big Fincher fan, just because I am a little too girly to stomach the heavier stuff (Okay, Se7en gave me nightmares, and I still can't watch the scene in Fight Club where the beat up Jared Leto - it's so gory!) but I can really appreciate his talent. I was more than a little suprised by the tameness and predictibility of Panic Room.

But your theory PDL:PDA :: PR:DF - sets the world aright.

Meg

Megs · Post by **Megs** » Jul 1st 2003, 9:01 am

dTheater wrote:I want to echo almost all of what Megs said.

Giving credit where credit's due:

I think you meant Meggrrrl, not Megs. I know, I know, it's hard to tell us apart.

Forum

Punch-Drunk Love

Punch-Drunk Love

Who is online