Issue date: 10/25/02 Section: Entertainment

Something that could have been brought to my attention yesterday: Adam Sandler can act.

I have never seen an Adam Sandler movie. And according to the friend with whom I saw the new Adam Sandler flick Punch-Drunk Love, I still have never seen an Adam Sandler movie. How can this be, you ask? Punch-Drunk Love is not stereotypical of Adam Sandler movies - goofy, juvenile, escapist comedies - but is a black comedy, crafted by the innovative Paul Thomas Anderson of Boogie Nights and Magnolia fame.

The plot of Punch-Drunk Love revolves around a romance - here between Sandler's Barry Egan and Emily Watson's Lena Leonard. The pair is set up through one of Barry's seven overbearing sisters who want Barry to come out of his shell and experience more than his solitary life provides for him. Leery at first, Barry falls for Lena, and a romance blossoms. While this may seem overly simplistic, the complex nature of Sandler's character is what keeps the audience intrigued throughout the film.

Barry works a dead-end job – he's the owner of a toilet plunger distributing company and sits in his warehouse in Los Angeles watching life pass him by. His outer personality is reserved and quiet; he only speaks when necessary and seems barely confident enough to open his mouth in the first place. However, he takes tiny and funny steps to change his life. We first see Barry at his office desk wearing clothing that contrasts his personality sharply – an electric blue suit. He wears this through most of the movie, to the chagrin of many of the other characters, especially his sisters, who tease him about it.

In a funny side-plot, he discovers a loophole with mail-in coupons by which, if he purchases $3,000 worth of Healthy Choice pudding cups, he can amass enough frequent flier miles to last a lifetime. But later, we learn that he has never flown in a plane his entire life. This contrasting quality of his personality is reflected throughout the film.

On another level, his character's violent tendencies are like a balloon – slowly, discreetly building with air until it suddenly pops. Barry's sisters treat him as almost sub-human, condescendingly putting him down and, at times, bluntly making fun of him. As one of the romantic interests in the film, Lena, is not nearly as interesting of a character as Barry. It seems that Anderson spent so much time developing Barry that Lena is simply bland. The reasoning behind how she would fall for a quietly complex man like Barry is never explored. Had we seen different sides to her character, it would have been easier to see how she fell for him too.

I have left out key elements of this film's plot, including a crucial one involving Barry calling a phone-sex hotline, because I saw this film without much prior knowledge about it and think it's best seen that way. Many people who see this movie will not like it, either because they expect a typical Adam Sandler comedy, or think the plot is too strange and abstract to follow. I did not come in with these expectations, but enjoyed the film very much. If you have seen Anderson's Magnolia a few years ago, you can expect similar idiosyncrasies here. A quirky film, Punch-Drunk Love will force you to have more discussion about an Adam Sandler movie than you probably ever would have thought was possible.

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