‎Punch-Drunk Love (2002) directed by Paul Thomas Anderson • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Punch-Drunk Love

2002 Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

A beleaguered small-business owner gets a harmonium and embarks on a romantic journey with a mysterious woman.

Adam Sandler Emily Watson Philip Seymour Hoffman Luis Guzmán Mary Lynn Rajskub Robert Smigel Jason Andrews Don McManus David Schrempf Seann Conway Rico Bueno Hazel Mailloux Karen Kilgariff Julie Hermelin Salvador Curiel Jorge Barahona Ernesto Quintero Julius Steuer Lisa Spector Nicole Gelbard Mia Weinberg Karen Hermelin Larry Ring Kerry Gelbard Ashley Clark

95 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Adam Cook ★★★★★ 50

I always get strange looks when I tell people this is my favourite Paul Thomas Anderson film.

“But what about There Will Be Blood?”
“Have you not seen Boogie Nights?”

These are both sensible questions and brilliant films but it doesn’t change the fact Punch-Drunk Love is still his true masterpiece. It is his best film for numerous reasons - it is his best because it has a creative freedom rarely seen in his work, before or since. Anderson has become famous for making epic movies be they convoluted and complex ensemble dramas or films on a vast canvas. Punch-Drunk Love, on the other hand, is a small movie in every conceivable way be it cast size, narrative complexity and…
Review by Joe ★★★★★ 13

When I was 17 or 18 I was eating lunch at this place called New York Subs (now closed) and I ordered my sandwich and sat down in front of this man (who I later learned was my parents' dentist, incidentally) who was by himself waiting on his food. When the waitress came by to bring him his order, I heard her ask him about the crossword puzzle he was doing. "Yeah, I find it's a lot easier to do the longer words first, then you can kind of work your way out from there. But sometimes I just can't solve the longer ones, and the shorter ones can help with those." There was something about this exchange that was…
Review by Berken ★★★★★ 49

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP! SHUT, SHUT, SHUT, SHUT, SHUT UP… SHUT UP!"
#3 on Berken's Favorite Movies Of All Time

Everyone involved in the making of Silver Linings Playbook should look on this movie and despair. This is how you make an offbeat indie rom-com with a bipolar protagonist, David O. Russell. You can, for that matter, give your audience a happy, uplifting ending without resorting to Hollywood cliches and ending everything with a "you had me at hello" style rom-com one-liner, you just have to put a little bit more effort into it.

It's sort of incredible how Paul Thomas Anderson reinvented his whole toolkit to fit the protagonist and universe he was working with here. My favorite touch…
Review by Brendan Michaels ★★★★★ 12

11/10

"I have a love in my life. It makes me stronger than anything you can imagine."

I feel like I've said everything I have to say about this movie but I have so many feelings everytime I see this. I have never been able to relate to any character quite as much as Barry Egan. He's me when I'm happy, he's me when I'm angry, he's me when I'm sad, and he's me when I'm in love. I've found someone that makes me as happy as Barry is with Lena. I'm glad I have them and that I have this movie in my life.

"So here we go."
Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★½ 11

Anxiety. Sadness. Anger. Loneliness. Longing. Rage. Whimsy. Exuberance. Love. In the space of 90 or so minutes, Paul Thomas Anderson's serio-comic drama observes all of these moods, emotions, and movements. Like an allegory of the mind and heart, Anderson's put-upon everyman communicates these shades while the film captures life's mental, emotional journey though the narrative lens of a single character and the stylistic canvas of a remarkable film.

On the surface, "Punch-Drunk Love" is about a business man whose life and career do not have much traction. Under the surface, however, surges a high-energy meditation on the mental makeup of a human being who might as well stand for every human being. Odd symbols, strange plot points, and interesting characters…
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 8

93

(35mm)

There's such an energy to this thing. At once bouncy and smooth and mechanical and confrontational. Car crashes give way to music, violent outbursts lead to sweeping walks in the gleaming blue city side streets, and frantic sprints down faceless hallways culminate in a kiss. Still has one of the biggest 'wow' moments in a movie, as Barry calmly rejects the chaos around him with a simple "I don't know" before Jon Brion's musical score overtakes the theater space, colliding with the blooming mirage of shapes, colors, and stars. The fact that this isn't even in my top 5 favorite Paul Thomas Anderson films should tell you a little bit about just how much I love the guy.

"I don't know if there is anything wrong because I don't know how other people are."

Recent reviews

Review by sarina ★★★★½

just...let me hold barry egan. let me hold that fucking weirdo
Review by Jenn ★★★★½

this movie was so weird and so beautiful. the blue and white tones of this movie... Amazing. a kid in my film class recommended this movie and lemme tell you! i appreciate him
Review by John Tilden ★★★½

I have watched Adam in so many incredibly bad films that I wasn't expecting much this time. Wrong, this is a very well done interesting film. His character isn't that embarrassingly foolish clown that he so often goes for, and that people seem to like so much...I don't know why. He's sort of like a contemporary Jerry Lewis with the...flavin..and the..moivin..
Anyway this is one of his forays into real acting and when he does that I like him. Happens every once in a while and then he goes back to being an ass. I wonder whether he is popular in France?
Review by John Tilden ★★★½

I have watched Adam in so many incredibly bad films that I wasn't expecting much this time. Wrong, this is a very well done interesting film. His character isn't that embarrassingly foolish clown that he so often goes for, and that people seem to like so much...I don't know why. He's sort of like a contemporary Jerry Lewis with the...flavin..and the..moivin..
Anyway this is one of his forays into real acting and when he does that I like him. Happens every once in a while and then he goes back to being an ass. I wonder whether he is popular in France?
Review by Harrison Walter ★★★★★

Still makes me tear up. Perfect story about the strength love gives us.
Review by CG 1

When Your Mood calls, you answer.

Damn fucking masterpiece. Not a single thing to dislike.
Review by Ahmed ★★★★

awwwwwww

(might come back and actually write something, I need sleep rn)
Review by Benjamin Dugdale ★★★★½

If you want to watch a film about anxious people that doesn't involve the violence against women of "mother!", this is a beautiful alternative and it holds up over many viewings and it's amazing how much blue lens flare they manage to sneak in there!
Review by 007FilmReviwer ★★★★½ 2

A

"I don't know if there is anything wrong because I don't know how other people are."

A strangely frantic beginning to sprinting confrontations connected through sweeping shapes of color and loving stars to a vibrant art house picture placing a phenomenally revealing performance of dark obsessions and delighted power from Adam Sandler who deserves a case of pudding filled to the blink with films that occupy excellent talent behind them, Punch-Drunk Love unlocks intellectual effort in both massively sharp characterization and a sprawling craft of romance underneath blissfully endless shifts, internal emotion, magical degrees of sadness as the lifting concussions settle in, diverting elation, and clear silence while the capturing feelings overwhelm the complex cuts of intense isolation.