YMMV / Punch-Drunk Love

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Barry's sister Elizabeth. Is she overbearing and emotionally abusive to Barry on purpose? Or does she not realize that she's hurting him because of her own neurosis? It's implied that she's not well-adjusted herself and her Hypocritical Heartwarming Pet the Dog moment implies that she does genuinely care about him on some level. On the other hand, she seemed to resent that Barry didn't want her to set him up with Lena at the party, and even though Lena wasn't able to make it to the party, Elizabeth told the rest of the family that Lena wasn't there because Barry didn't want to meet her, making him look like the bad guy. It comes off like she was punishing Barry for turning down her efforts.
• Audience-Alienating Premise: As Paul Thomas Anderson put it: It was "an art-house Adam Sandler film," but the art-house crowd stayed away from it because it starred Adam Sandler. Likewise, Sandler fans stayed away from it because it was an art-house film. It eventually got a following over the years from both camps, but the initial reaction served as a major factor for the film's financial failure.
• Award Snub: It received zero Academy Award nominations, though Paul Thomas Anderson won Best Director at The Cannes Film Festival, and Sandler got a Golden Globe nomination.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The truck crash which happens in the first scene is never mentioned and has no effect on any of the film's events. Oddly, it occurs at the same time as Barry receives the harmonium.
• Critical Dissonance: Movies starring Adam Sandler are usually panned by critics but successful at the box office. Here, the opposite happened. In fact, its initial Cinemascore rating was a D+.
• Cult Classic: It's genuinely agreed to be the Adam Sandler film to watch if you don't like his work, and even years after the film’s release, people would point to this film as an example that Sandler can do great work when he actually tries.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Barry does not seem to have a formal diagnosis, but shows poor social skills, acute anxiety and aggressive outbursts. Normally he's shy and reserved, but he sometimes gets extremely upset at certain emotional stimuli. He has tremendous difficulty staying calm whenever his sisters go too far in teasing him and wears the same blue suit throughout the entire film, which spans roughly a week.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: While Barry and Lena end the film as a loving couple, it's clear that this is a very codependent relationship, and while the relationship has made Barry a stronger person, none of his underlying issues have been addressed. Plus,they're both emotionally damaged people (with Lena it's implied, though she's more stable than Barry). The odds of their relationship lasting are not very good, and if Barry ever ends up alone again, there's a good chance that he'll relapse into his old self or become even worse.
• He Really Can Act: The film is held up as an example of Adam Sandler being able to turn in a good performance when taken outside his usual faire of "low effort comedies." He even got a Golden Globe nomination for his performance.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a man who sells bed mattresses. Twenty years later, Paul Thomas Anderson would cast his son Cooper to play a young entrepreneur who does the same. Fans have since made many jokes that they are in fact the same character.
• Love to Hate: Dean the Mattress Man is a loathsome, cowardly piece of shit, but his sheer vileness combined with Philip Seymour Hoffman's magnificent performance makes him one of the most memorable parts of the film.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: At one point, Lena mentions to Barry that she was married and also had a boyfriend before meeting him, which implies some drama in her past, but the film doesn't develop this part of Lena's history any further.
• Vindicated by History: When it was first released, it ended up being well-received by critics but had difficulty finding an audience. By the time Pixels came out and killed Adam Sandler's A-List reputation, the film had already gained a following and was later released on Blu-Ray by The Criterion Collection, unusual for a Sandler film, which would happen again with his other acclaimed performance in Uncut Gems.
• The Woobie: Barry for the first two-thirds of the movie. Like Lena, you want to put your arms around him and tell him that everything's going to be alright.

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