Out sister site French Toast Sunday is celebrating P.T. Anderson this month (wait for it.......P.T. AnderJune) and I'm gettin' in on the action while I can. Punch-Drunk Love is probably my favorite film directed by Anderson. Maybe it's Adam Sandler (in probably his best role), or maybe it's the romance between his character Barry and Emily Watson's (one of my favorite film romances). Whatever it is, it all just works.
This week's scene is the confrontation between Barry and Dean "Mattress Man" Trumbell (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the culmination of a phone sex line extortion scheme on the former by the latter. And it's great. Watch for yourself:
The way Hoffman says "Ow," every few seconds as one of his lackeys cuts his hair, their slow realization and acknowledgment that Barry is standing in the doorway, and that lens flare! And, my favorite part, the way Trumbell trys to get the last word in on Barry at the last second and Barry's near slip into psycho town. Just a great fuggin' scene all around.
As a bonus, here's a spectacular deleted scene from the movie that'll make you miss the genius of Philip Seymour Hoffman even more. Try not to laugh out loud, it can't be done.
P.S. I feel like someone inspired me to feature this scene somehow, but I don't really remember the specifics. I wanna say it was Alex from And So It Begins Films via this post, but I can't remember for sure. Just wanted to try to give credit where credit is due. Be sure to stay tuned to French Toast Sunday for more P.T. AnderJune this month!
Awesome choice! I love Punch-Drunk Love and I feel like not a lot of people do unfortunately. This scene is definitely a no-brainer favorite scene from the movie too.
ReplyDeleteLOVE this scene so much. I love everything you pointed out about it, but I think my favorite moment is the way PSH leans into Sandler as Sandler begins to walk away. There's something about the precision of that movement that feels so real. And thanks for the link man. Still can't believe he's gone.
ReplyDeleteJess - I remember seeing it as a kid and, well, not loving it I guess. I love it now - Sandler turns in his best work and it's just such a great quirky romantic dramedy.
ReplyDeleteAlex - PSH really made every film he was in so much better. I actually used to not really care for him but as I got older I started to focus on the actor, not his roles (he can play an asshole so well).
Thanks for the comments, guys!
right pick for Punch-Drunk scene, i like this scene very much .......
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, Ayush! Glad you liked the scene.
Deletethat's that..!
ReplyDelete