The 2002 romantic drama was written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It’s the story of Barry Egan ( Adam Sandler ) a businessman who meets the love of his wife, while having to deal with a life-threatening scandal.
PLOT:
Barry is a depressed man leading a depressed life. The main cause seems to be that he’s constantly teased and verbally abused by his seven sisters. One of them drag him to a party, when he ends up smashing glass doors in a fit of rage. He chats up with his brother in-law; Walter the Dentist ( Robert Smigel ), who hooks him up with a phone number to call for his condition.
He calls up the number and I bet you were expecting a therapist or a psychiatrist – NOPE it was a hooker. To keep this PG13 I won’t get into details. Anyway the next day he gets another call from her. She’s asking for money and threatens him if he doesn’t pay up. Barry ignores it and goes about his day.
Turns out this lady has all of Barry information and is able to call him at work. Pretty much exactly at that time he meets an English woman named Lena ( Emily Watson ). Despite an awkward first meet, the two realize their compatability after going out together.
Remember that sideline that’s getting Sandler in trouble? Well it turns out that Philip Seymour Hoffman is her boss. He makes a bigger appearence later on. So Adam Sandler and Lena met in Hawaii and fall in love, despite all the problematic stuff their about to face in the next half hour of screentime.
Let’s cut there.
CONCLUSSION:
As expected Paul Thomas Anderson managed to make a brilliant little film with his own unique style. The background music constantly gave it a bizarrely fast-paced feeling even if Sandler’s only having a seemingly harmless conversation.
I was also surprised that Sandler was able to give off a legitamatly good performance. He didn’t pull some annoying lisp of accent, he didn’t spend the movie going on stupid side quests or hunting werewolf Steve Buscemi’s – NO he actually did a great performance. One I think he should be more known for, as opposed to some of his less than shining performances.
PS, I may or may not be working on another review to a PTA film.
-The Screenwriter
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