Punch-Drunk Love is one of Paul Thomas Anderson's finest films, an exercise in lean filmmaking that boasts some of his most deliciously enjoyable scenes and his most eccentric qualities. As a broad rule, I prefer the Anderson films with a tinge of comedy (Inherent Vice, Magnolia, Phantom Thread) and Punch-Drunk Love is his most overtly comedic film, even if it's only quietly funny. It's an arthouse rom-com, playfully caught between the mainstream construction of the genre and the experimental tendencies of Anderson's work, and on every watch Punch-Drunk Love is an absolute delight.

Punch-Drunk Love is Paul Thomas Anderson's superhero movie. As with so much of his work, it is subtly inflected by Americana and American culture. In this instance, Punch-Drunk Love is a film about superman. The lead character, Barry Egan, is a repressed version of this superhero. His costume, distinctive and new to him, adopts a blue, white, and red combination at his most powerful moments. He is shown to have incredible strength, be able to fly wherever he wants (through pudding), be able to run and keep on running, and he can take on many baddies at once. We see superman poses, in a jump he makes, and in the final moment where his lover is on his back, her arms flung around him. They are flying off together. Barry also has a love to fight for, and a girlfriend he loves (initials L.L.). He was different from the other kids, a boy amongst the girls, and his powers were why. Every good superhero needs a villain, and Philip Seymour Hoffman provides our Lex Luthor. He is rich, or at least rich enough to hire groups of thugs, and his power reaches everywhere, as evidenced by the mattress trucks we see in many shots. In the final confrontation, he is getting a haircut, and this provides him with a cape, yet another altered symbol of heroism and villainy. Punch-Drunk Love is loaded with comic book stylings, an ode to their influence on popular culture, and a great metaphor for the strange characters in this larger-than-life world.

Punch-Drunk Love is a strange fantasy, a story of an oddball creep getting the girl. In Barry's life, he is surrounded by women. He has seven sisters who bully him, force him into a corner, and overwhelm him. They do love him though, and don't want others to think he's a freak. The love story in Punch-Drunk Love is like the harmonium that appears from nowhere, magically falling into place. Yet it isn't magical; the female lead controls everything. She manipulates Barry, arranges the meetings, lies to him, sets him up, pretends to be a stranger, and even stalks him to some extent. She's obsessed with Barry from the beginning and controls almost everything about their relationship from then on. The film isn't Barry's fantasy, it's hers. She wants a superman and she gets him. Barry even fights to save her (taking on some brothers, instead of his sisters) and she becomes everything to Barry. A song plays with the lyrics "he needs me, he needs me" for a reason; she isn't dependent on Barry but he's dependent on her.

Barry Egan is such a wonderfully realised character. Adam Sandler gives an outstanding performance, so awkward and weird, and proves that he's an undeniably talented actor. Barry is someone who doesn't like to be looked at, and someone so scared of hurting others. He doesn't like himself and can't tell how other people work or if he's different. He's a messy, complicated person, and someone who can get so filled with anger. The thing he values most is confidence and privacy, perhaps because his introversion means he can't share anything about himself with the world. He denies everything, but is completely open with his lover. He might call a sex line, but he's looking for love and someone to share himself with, not lust. His stumbling love, like his fumbling walk, takes him into the light and into happiness. The lovers are often silhouetted, engulfed by the lighter world around them. There's a lot of lens flares, a haze around the characters and their love. Just like the pudding scheme, Barry has to take advantage whilst he can. When the strange, tender kiss happens, it is long awaited and found after being momentarily lost. There is something dark beneath the surface of this relationship (he wants to smash her face with a sledgehammer) but this violent love is romantic. He doesn't want to hurt her, but he only knows love through pain (literally spelt out on his bloodied knuckles) and she is too beautiful to preserve. The love seems true, even if it's very messed up, and throughout all the phone calls, communications across time and space, their love makes the world smaller. So small that they are the only two in it, and that's exactly what they each want.

Punch-Drunk Love is a strangely endearing movie. It's too dark to be beautiful, but it has a unique aura that allows so much to be open-ended and yet feel so complete. It has neat visuals and an odd, quirky soundscape that makes no sense but adds so much, often creating a really intense atmosphere. There's a lot going on in Punch-Drunk Love and more and more things seem to interconnect on every watch, but it's still an elegant and simple film that stands out amongst Paul Thomas Anderson's eclectic filmography. It's a firm favourite of mine, and the sort of weird film that just clicks with me every time I see it.

Side-note: It's strange to realise that Punch-Drunk Love is the only Paul Thomas Anderson film set in the 21st century.

Paul Thomas Anderson Ranked
My Top Films of the 2000s