Punch-Drunk+Love




 * Plot:** Barry is a salesman with anger management issues who buys ungodly amounts of pudding in a clever scheme to capitalize on their frequent flyer miles program.
 * Theme:** Barry is an emotionally unstable, socially inept salesman who needs to come to terms with himself and connect with other people on an emotional level.

Protagonists in Anderson's films are often motivated by a desire to escape their surroundings, and more importantly, their pasts. This is shown thorough Barry's pudding shenanigans which are really a sad reflection of his desire to go on a vacation and escape everything. Anderson also likes to focus on dysfunctional families and uncomfortable family dynamics. Barry's seven emotionally abusive sisters serve to belittle Barry and are probably the cause of his emasculation and emotional instability. Like many of Anderson's protagonists, Barry is also alienated from his own community and suffers from a sense of isolation.
 * What makes this a Paul Thomas Anderson film?**


 * 1)** Barry (Adam Sandler) sits alone at a desk in the corner of his office (which is really a warehouse garage). The mise en scene demonstrates Barry’s sense of isolation and alienation. He wears the navy blue suit that he will wear throughout the rest of the film, and the wall behind him matches this exact shade of blue. This might serve to characterize Barry as a weak, unassertive, “fly on the wall” type of guy, as he seems to literally blend into the background here.

- Barry meets Lena. - He calls a phone sex line.
 * 2)** - Barry finds a harmonium in the middle of the road.

- Barry has seven emotionally abusive sisters who constantly belittle him.
 * 3)** - Barry buys large amounts of pudding to take advantage of their frequent flyer miles program.

What upsets the balance: Barry finds himself drawn to Lena and realizes that he wants a relationship with her. They kiss. Omg cutes!!!


 * 4)** Barry follows Lena to Hawaii when she goes for a business trip.


 * 5)** The phone sex line operators constantly try to extort money from Barry, threatening him.

Barry’s sisters continue to emotionally abuse him. Barry asks his sister for Lena’s phone number and has to endure her insults before he forcefully demands it and finally obtains it.


 * 6)** Barry continues to have fits of rage.


 * 7)** Barry admits to Lena that he came to Hawaii because he wants to be in a relationship with her.

Barry continues to struggle with his anger management problems, as well as his generally unsupportive sisters.
 * 8)** The phone sex line continues to threaten Barry


 * 9)** The phone sex line brothers eventually confront Barry in a parking lot and crash their car into his. Instead of taking a beating, Barry is surprisingly able to fight them off despite being outnumbered. This scene is crucial to Barry’s character development as his assertion of physical power over the phone sex goons represents the beginning of his own triumph over his emotional hang ups, in particular, the emasculation that has resulted from his upbringing with his abusive sisters.


 * 10)** Lena is hospitalized. Barry calls the supervisor of the phone sex line, Dean (Philip Seymour Hoffman), in an effort to stop their increasingly violent attempts to extort money from him. Barry travels to Utah to confront Dean face-to-face. Dean still attempts to convince Barry to give him the money, but Barry stands up for himself and is so intimidating that Dean is silenced and agrees to stop harrassing him, more or less.


 * 11)** At the beginning of the film, Barry is portrayed as a weak, unassertive, and generally sad character. His social ineptitude is underscored and perhaps worsened by his interaction with his seven abusive sisters. In fact, his upbringing with them might very well be the cause of his emasculation. As a result, he is unable to connect with other people on an emotional level. Barry’s existence at this point is driven by his career in a novelty store, but more significantly, his purchase of obscene amounts of pudding in order to accumulate enough frequent flyer miles to go on a vacation. His entire life is dedicated to being able to escape from his immediate surroundings in the form of a vacation, which would serve as a temporary solution on a permanent problem. What Barry really needs to do, instead of selling toilet plungers and buying pudding, is to come to terms with his emotional instability and social ineptitude. He needs to be able to connect with people, and prove to himself that he is capable of doing so.

Barry’s confrontation with Dean in Utah serves to liberate Barry from all his previously held negative notions of himself, including his low self esteem and his general existence as a sad pushover. Barry confronts Dean first and foremost for his own safety and wellbeing, but also out of his love and concern for Lena. At the beginning of the film, Barry is unable to face his own embarrassing existence, and as a result, tries to escape the entrapments of his society that define him (his sisters and his job). Barry doesn’t really need a vacation; he needs to come to terms with himself. By asserting himself in a physically and emotionally satisfying way, Barry overcomes his emotional hang ups and notions of his lack of self worth. More importantly, he is able to emotionally connect with others, as proven through his relationship with Lena.


 * 12)** Barry returns to Lena, who has been hospitalized. He apologizes for abandoning her in the hospital, and tells her what happened. They reconcile and Barry promises to share all his frequent flyer miles with her. Aw.


 * 13)** Barry is a new man. He plays the harmonium. Barry and Lena live happily ever after.