  Ive a new cinematic hero. Its Adam Sandlers character in Punch Drunk Love . The rage, the despair and the fact that he got to touch Emily Watson, that adorable kitten from Breaking the Waves that I saw her in first years ago. These are all things to admire somehow. Im a snob about films, so even when Bryan told me Id like this one, I balked. For no apparent reason; I love PT Anderson films. I still cant believe I sold my DVD of Hard Eight about a year ago. Boogie Nights has more good lines in it for me to recycle as punch-lines than Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Ok, so its not that fabulous, but still. Magnolia would be a good revisit; I only saw it once the day it was released in the theatres.
Clearly, Bryan knew what he was talking about with this one. The critics who give a shit about a decent piece of ART loved Punch Drunk . The receipts rendered it a flop. Equation balance = movie good. The way Anderson was able to cultivate such a tension with his command of the acting talent with hand-helds (after so many wide angle establishing shots that comprised such a large portion of the visual), with the score Those static wide angles made the alienation and awkwardness so palpable.
Very well done. My only qualm keeping it from my Top 10,000 list is the improbability of Watsons character. Just a scene or two, two minutes even, were needed to qualify her as someone who would be fascinated with him. Given her role in the story arc, some explanation was clearly in order. Like, develop a quirk at least! Was it enough that she wanted to meet him solely on the basis of seeing his picture? 
