Punch Drunk Love

Director Paul Thomas Anderson
USA 2002
Winner of Best Director Cannes 2002

Barry is a nerdy, small time businessman whose humdrum life is only punctuated by bullying from his seven sisters and an idiosyncratic obsession with bulk buying tins of food which may potentially win him air miles. Then suddenly everything changes with a combination of a disastrous phone sex encounter and the appearance of Lena, a mysterious English woman who actually wants to go out with him.

Following on from his critically acclaimed Magnolia, Paul Thomas Anderson here provides a very different but equally original film. A bitter sweet, wacky romantic comedy, Punch Drunk Love is massively entertaining. Adam Sandler as Barry gives an admirably restrained and thoughtful performance and Emily Watson is a perfect foil as the smart, attractive, almost fairytale heroine Lena.

Site coding and text © CranbrookFilmSociety