Rating: 
Summary: Don't expect MAGNOLIA meets THE WEDDING SINGER!
Review: I loved HARD EIGHT, admired the craft of BOOGIE NIGHTS, and regarded MAGNOLIA as one of the best films of the past decade. P.T. Anderson has established an enviable track record. But Adam Sandler--though slightly less repugnant than Jim Carrey--has not generally impressed me as someone I would choose to spend even 30 seconds watching. (I have teenaged sons, thus have seen a few of his movies.) Yet I did enjoy his performance in THE WEDDING SINGER, in which he demonstrated the ability to portray a human being instead of an obnoxious boor. And ever since BREAKING THE WAVES Emily Watson has been one of my favorite actresses, always turning in strong & often extraordinary performances. But still there was Sandler....Sufficiently skeptical to avoid this film in the theatres, and not even to hasten to see it on video, I nevertheless hoped it would overcome the handicap of Sandler and equal the quality standard established by P.T. Anderson's previous films. Having seen it described as a "romantic comedy," I hoped for something like MAGNOLIA MEETS THE WEDDING SINGER. Boy was I surprised! Sandler is not the problem. But watching him--or rather his character, Barry--is excruciating. Barry may be the most pathetically screwed-up character a filmmaker has ever asked his audience to identify with (Paddy Chavesky's MARTY is a winner compared to Barry). Everything he does is excruciatingly painful and stupid, from his job, to his pudding-for-free-airmiles scam, to his phone-sex nightmare, to trashing the restaurant restroom (oh, THAT Adam Sandler)--and the pain implicit in each of these episodes is intensified by a soundtrack like fingernails on a chalkboard. By the time he finally makes an honest choice that leads to redemption, it's too little too late to save a film mired in its own excess. The problem is Anderson. Like Sophia Coppola, he seems ignorant of the imitative fallacy in art. And what could have been an unusual and arresting contemporary "love" story has become a painful exercise in audience endurance instead. Two stars for the beautiful Frankenthalerish images behind the credits and interspersed at times between scenes throughout the film.
Rating: 
Summary: the worst of adam sandler
Review: im a huge fan of adam but this movie blows. i sat through the movie to see if something good happens at least in the end, but i was wrong worst movie i ever saw peformed by adam sandler
adam you could do better roles love ya
Rating:
Summary: Hated it!!!
Review: My husband and I made it through about 20 mins. of this movie. I knew that it wasn't going to be the usual Adam Sandler movie, but this was just ridiculous. It was so boring and didn't seem to get to a point. I couldn't care or even be curious about any of the characters in the film. Maybe there is some hidden meaning that I just didn't see, but I'm not going to watch it again to find out! Rent it or get it from the library, it's not worth buying.
Rating: 
Summary: Sweet, feel-good movie
Review: When this appeared in cinemas I ignored it, simply because it starred Adam Sandler, so I thought it was another mindless slapstick comedy. (I did like "The Wedding Singer" though). Subsequently I discovered that it is a romantic-drama, and, as I discovered while watching the DVD, a very good one. A major detour for Adam Sandler, as he plays a serious character, and does so admirably. He plays a weird socially-awkward guy whose life seems sad and meaningless until he meets a woman with similar weirdnesses to his. There is someone for everyone. The notion is not original, but this exploration of it certainly is.
Rating:
Summary: Sledgehammer love! Another brain teaser from P.T. Anderson.
Review: I loved this 95-minute "exploration" about a "man-child" who finds "intoxicating" love for the first time. What happens if you're a boy (Adam Sandler) - in a man's body - with no confidence? Sandler plays Barry Egan. He hates himself, he feels like a loser and he doesn't know why. He cries for no reason. His heart is big, his seven sisters love him, but they make fun of him. No one understands him. Of course they don't. He smashes window and walls, tears up a rest room and stocks up on pudding to cash in on a marketing promotion flaw. Is he also a wacko? But then a miracle. He meets a courageous and perhaps foolish girl who likes the very things he hates about himself. Love makes him so powerful, his life suddenly has purpose. It's like winning the lottery. This is about the only thing "simple" about the so-called "storyline" of Paul Thomas Anderson's "Punch-Drunk Love," a film I found bizarre and sweet - perhaps too artsy for its own good - yet oddly satisfying. When Sandler's Barry Egan says Emily Watson's character is so pretty that he wants to "smash her face with a sledgehammer," it sounds better in the movie than on paper. It's funny and it works. If you're a child, it impossible to find the "right words" to express the intensity of "punch-drunk love." I don't blame people who hated this film. It would be snobby to say some people "just won't get it." There's no point lying. "Punch-Drunk Love" is a film that requires properly managed expectations. Part of the problem (and genius) is Anderson's decision to cast Adam Sandler himself. Sandler is a good actor here, but he doesn't do anything spectacular. The best way to avoid feeling cheated is to push everything you know about Sandler out of your mind. Pretend you're seeing him for the first time. Sandler has teased his violent persona in previous over-the-top comedies, but in "Punch-Drunk Love," writer-director Anderson has channeled this tortured "self-hatred" act into something that isn't supposed to be funny. He explores what might happen - if such a person fell in love - for the FIRST time. Equally maddening to some, Anderson doesn't use conventional words and images to "articulate" the mysteries of love. He makes us see everything through the eyes of a loser who's never experienced them. We see splashes of color and hear "high-as-a-kite" music that mirror his euphoria. Anderson doesn't spell everything out in deep dialogue, because in real relationships, we don't talk about everything. Words come close, but they're rarely "dead-on" about what we're really feeling. "Punch-Drunk Love" works best as a "what if?" romance involving a man who's emotionally stunted. I don't know if a woman like Emily Watson's character exists. I don't demand to know why she chases Sandler because I feel I'm watching everything through the eyes of Sandler's Barry Egan. This is a story about the boy, not the girl. Watson appears so radiant to Sandler's character because he feels she's looking right through him, making things easier. This is all that matters to him. P. T. Anderson is always offbeat, but I didn't expect him to be sadistically charming. Unlike the pessimism of his previous films, this effort brims with optimism, delivering abstract ideas without using a chalkboard. There's no doubt he's playing with your head. And this can either be insulting or fun, depending upon whatever baggage you bring that's associated with what you already know about Adam Sandler's past work, P.T. Anderson's past work, and the whole "romantic-comedy" schtick that throws everyone off the tracks. Emily Watson gets the last line in the film and some people feel short-changed by it (I won't give it away). But to me, it's terrific. It's not a "happily ever after" prediction. Instead, it's an open-ended, three-word expression of hope, acknowledging obstacles ahead without listing 'em. It comes closer to the giddy feelings that mirror the complexities of love as we really know them, without getting gushy. Why do we "love" at all? Is it really necessary? "Punch-Drunk Love" explores this from the view of an emotionally stunted man. I believe there are people like this on the fringes of society and we may or may not know them. In this way, "Punch Drunk Love" feels original. However, labeling it as a "romantic-comedy" is horribly misleading and punishes hopeful expectations. While this film is riddled with humorous situations, most of it is just plain awkward. As it should be. In my view, this film is NOT a comedy.
Rating: 
Summary: I didn't expect such a Thinking Person's movie from Sandler
Review: Based on my knowledge of Adam Sandler's past work and the trailers I had seen for this movie, I expected this movie to be very different. Comical, light-hearted, and bottom line, a farce.
What you get here with this movie is not really anything that I expected.
It is definitely funny and in some ways even light-hearted, but there is this dark tone that colors the whole story, just like the dark cloud that seems to be over Sandler's character Barry's life. Barry is an ode to idiosynchracies. While I watched this movie I had to suspend judgment and try to forget the expectations I had for this movie...
I expected another silly Sandler romp, not a thought-provoking movie.
This movie has alot of substance, though it is a bit strange, but after some time to digest it, I have to say I did enjoy it quite a bit.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Cinematography
Review: Something a lot of reviews don't touch on is the excellent use of color, not only in the abstract, but also in the everyday settings around the characters. The blues and reds of Egan's suit, Leonard's dress, and practically every major scene which involves the main two characters together are breathtaking.
Rating:
Summary: What's the Point??
Review: It is amazing films of this sort get Green lit in Hollywood. It is a plodding bore that I would not recommend to anyone, very pretentious, so don't waste your time unless you are convinced that you will like anything Paul Thomas Anderson might crank out.
Rating:
Summary: A depressing movie
Review: I got this from the local library because my husband usually likes Adam Sandler movies and I thought I would like it since I knew/liked the female lead. This movie was a bore that lacked purpose or plot. It was depressing. Neither of us finished it. I do not recommend it at all.
Rating: 
Summary: delightfully absurd
Review: I had seen glimpses of the depth of Adam Sandler's sense of the absurd in occasional SNL skits. There were even moments in Waterboy when I was looking hard enough. I didn't have to look hard at all in Punch Drunk Love. To me, this movie was about the meaningless American job. Office Space made me laugh,...the indie movie, American Job, made me want to soapbox, and then Punch Drunk Love, with so many rapid fire absurdities, beginning with the glass handled toilet plungers, took slap stick to the level I have always dreamed of. I think Samuel Beckett would have enjoyed this film. I recognized elements borrowed from other experimental producers, like David Lynch, as not just satire of their genre, but as an integral part of the perspective of American reality that Punch Drunk Love projects.
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