Posted by Arturo Bandini at 128.192.116.112 on July 21, 2003 at 15:50:11:
In Reply to: I know this has been covered, but PUNCH DRUNK LOVE posted by snooganschick on July 21, 2003 at 15:39:04:
Rented it when it came out on DVD. About 1 hour into the movie I skipped ahead to the end, just to see how long it was -- dreading that I might still have another hour and 1/2 to watch...
I had much to say about it after I watched it, but now it seems I'm just trying to forget it...One big problem was the fact that a major character quirk/plot point was based on a widely publicized incident involving pudding. This wasn't just old urban legends like PTA slapped onto Magnolia (which I enjoyed) -- this was a current news story. "Ripped from the headlines" is fine for Law and Order and CSI, but I expect more from highly-touted films. I thought the subplot w/ the porn phone service was ridiculous as can only assume that PTA swiped this from the headlines as well (otherwise, he really has no excuse for it).
Visually, it had some great moments, but the story and characters were just limp...Sandler did a fine job with what he was handed, but once I saw the movie I felt like it got all of this praise just b/c everyone was so surprised by Adam Sandler's performance...Kinda like w/ the Truman Show and Jim Carrey...
You shoulda asked this question a couple of weeks ago when these opinions were fresh in my head...Suffice to say, I did not enjoy it...