How in the world would this have worked? A clownish actor who has become a punching bag in recent years participating in an art house-flavored romantic production? That ought to be a recipe for disaster! However, Paul Thomas Anderson found a way to make Adam Sandler one of the most sympathetic people you've ever seen on film. Playing an awkward salesman with temperament issues, Adam leads us through a bizarre love story populated by crazy characters like seven sisters who constantly make fun of him, a phone sex operator, four brothers who are henchmen for said operator, and the deranged boss of it all (played effortlessly by the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman). The one character who's more down to Earth is the love interest (played by a likable Emily Watson). It's sort of like the Big Lebowski of romance films. Both are such oddballs in there respective genres, have big characters and incidents, and they both end in ways you don't expect. However, while Lebowski has more rewatchability, Punch-Drunk Love is much weirder and it takes time to warm up to you. For any flaw it has, it's still a unique film that deserves to be seen despite Adam's reputation.