5. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
When Paul Thomas Anderson said his next movie after Magnolia was going to be an Adam Sandler comedy, everybody laughed, but he was being very serious. When Punch-Drunk Love was released in 2002, everybody was a little surprised that Anderson followed up on his claim. He made serious and challenging films, not silly comedies starring the annoying man-child that had infected the world with such atrocities as Little Nicky and Happy Gilmore. But Punch-Drunk Love is no ordinary Adam Sandler film. It is a weirdly twisted film that explodes in anger and desperation frequently and Anderson channels all of Sandler's reprehensible qualities into a force of nature and an Oscar-worthy performance. Anderson liberates Sandler from his own constraints of rubbish comedies, using his explosiveness to aid the quirky and dark script that links violence, obsession and love perfectly. Sandler's Barry Egan is similar to many Anderson characters, as he is an outsider who wishes for normality and happiness but is constantly oppressed, this time by his seven overbearing sisters who cripple his confidence. Anderson has very little use for straightforward plot, his characters interact because that is their destiny, not because it develops the plot. This is on effective display here as Barry meets Emily Watson's Lena who is as crazy and unhinged as he is, but she doesn't show it, she readily accepts him for who he is. It is impossible to predict what will happen next in a Paul Thomas Anderson film and that is truly wondrous here as it ignores all rom-com conventions and sets its own rules and the unpredictability of the film is terrifying. The film is a vivid exploration of love and features the ever brilliant and Anderson mainstay, Philip Seymour Hoffman in a hilariously intense small role. Punch-Drunk Love is far from accessible and is Anderson's most under-appreciated film as it is charming and invigorating from beginning to end.