FILM 2266: PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE (2002)

TRIVIA: A subplot of the film was inspired by an article in Time Magazine about David Phillips, a University of California civil engineer who stumbled upon a lucrative frequent-flyer promotion. By purchasing 12,150 cups of Healthy Choice pudding for just $3,000, he accumulated 1.25 million air-miles.

During the scene where Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) is at the supermarket looking for the cheapest Healthy Choice food item, he is being followed by an out-of-focus character in a red outfit. It's Lena Leonard (Emily Watson) before they've been introduced.

At one point in the film, Adam Sandler (Barry) is being followed by the Steadicam as he talks on the phone. During one take, the front of the camera accidentally bumped into a table and knocked the camera briefly, causing the shot to jump from Sandler to an image of an out-of-focus piece of the set and then quickly readjust. Paul Thomas Anderson loved the effect and wanted to do it again, so the crew did more takes and right at the same point in the dialogue, they smacked the front of the matte box on the camera to reproduce the effect.

Paul Thomas Anderson first announced that his follow-up to Magnolia (1999) would be an Adam Sandler comedy at a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival. The news was greeted with laughter by the assembled press. When "Punch-Drunk Love" eventually played at Cannes, Anderson won the Best Director award and was nominated for the festivals' top prize, the "Palme d'Or". Months later, Sandler was nominated for a Golden Globe in the "...Musical or Comedy" category.

Director of photography Robert Elswit used a special film stock that allowed him to shoot mostly in underexposed light, giving the shadows greater depth.

The first Adam Sandler movie to get a positive review from movie critic Roger Ebert.

When Barry punches his office wall then rests a bloody hand on his piano, the cuts on his knuckles spell the word "love".

The first of three films starring both Emily Watson and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The others being Red Dragon (2002) and Synecdoche, New York (2008).

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