Punch-Drunk Love - Review

I don't get this movie, but I like it. Can I end the review right there? Honestly, I don't even know what to say about this movie. Going through four years of film school, people wouldn't shut up about this movie. Everyone raved about Adam Sandler's performance and how they all wish that he would do more dramatic roles instead of the same old crap like That's My Boy (I haven't seen it but I heard it's bad). Also, since most film students love Paul Thomas Anderson, this film would come up in that conversation too. So I watched it and I enjoyed what I saw, but I have to be honest, I don't get it. Going back to film school for one second, we talked about visual symbolism in one class and my teacher showed us a clip from The Fifth Estate (another film I have not seen). We then dissected every single shot for about 5 minutes discussing what each shot could mean. If the character is a silhouette and the background is bright and vibrant, does this character have lots of stuff to hide? Is he ashamed of something? Maybe he's lonely and can't get up the courage to explore new worlds? Or did the director just think it looked cool? Now some "real" artists might call me dumb for having such a narrow-minded mindset when it comes to movies like this, but you have to remember something. Not everybody who watches movies is a film fanatic and has time to dissect every single shot and every single sound or music cue. Hell, if they were, then Adam Sandler wouldn't have a career. So as a guy who doesn't go into every movie with a notebook did not fully understand every bit of symbolism or truly understand Paul Thomas Anderson's method to his madness, but I enjoyed it. Yeah, weird to say after I talked about how this movie is almost too complex to understand, but this film was so odd to me that I had to keep watching. Adam Sandler is very likable and the story is just very bizarre, that you can't help but to keep watching. And honestly, that's all I have to say about it. If you are looking for a love story that is very unorthodox in terms of your generic Hollywood romance, or are a pretentious film know it all that feels the need to talk down to every single person who sees a movie (there are people worse than me folks, believe me) then check this film out. For some, alcohol or other drugs may be required.