i liked SANDLER before this , then i remembered , it's all
Added 11/14/2009
about the writing stupid . and direction . love ANDERSON and his films . i've since become quite the ADAM SANDLER fan as well , purchasing a number of his films that came out subsequent to this picture . i suppose there are folks whose cup of tea this is not . better luck elsewhere .
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Art House Comedy
Added 10/26/2009
I am a big fan of PT Anderson, but I found this to be his weakest effort to date. It was refreshing to see Adam Sandler play against his usual types of characters, and play a sweet, meek, insecure man who is looking for something in life. He finds it in an alluring woman who knew one of his sisters. Their budding relationship is interrupted by a visit from the cronies of a phone sex company trying to extort money from him. My wife could not stay awake through he film and just said it was boring, and I tended to agree with her. However when Barry makes the call to the phone sex line, the movie picks up and gains momentum. Anderson uses some filming techniques that do not really add anything to the film for me. he likes to experiment with colors and scenes are separated by Scopitones, I could have done without both. I think Anderson could have worked a little more on the story than on visual feel. The way a movie looks can add to it greatly, but when it becomes obvious that the filmmaker seems to be sacrificing story and character development for artistic creation with a camera, the movie suffers.
About the DVD: On the extra disc you get a special called Blossoms and Blood, which may as well be called Deleted Scenes. With extra artwork, three theatrical trailers and actual deleted scenes, the extras on the DVD flesh out the characters a little more making the actual film a little more enjoyable, but not much. However, true to PT Anderson's history, this DVD is missing a commentary track. It would be nice to see PT's thought process.
T
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Isn't life strange?
Added 10/26/2009
Barry Egan is an emotional mess, inexplicably prone to violence and panic attacks. Isn't life unpredictable?
Barry has seven sisters who, perhaps, have caused some of the psychic damage in him. Or maybe not. But they sure are noisy when all in the same place. Isn't life a pain in the ass with family-of-origin?
Barry might have some form of autism -- colors are brighter, noises are more distracting. Or the perhaps the director wants us to simply be disoriented by a lot of off-kilter percussion for more existential reasons. Isn't life more interesting with artistic amplification of our senses?
Barry sometimes imagines himself working by himself in his isolated office. Isn't life lonely?
Barry actually runs a business with lots of employees out of a warehouse and nobody seems to know what is going on (neither the audience nor the characters). Isn't life chaotic and funny?
A memory of a car crash and a truck nearly runs into an initially non-reactive Barry on the street in front of his "business". Upon further mental processing, he scurries to the safety of his warehouse office. Isn't life scary?
A phone sex entrepreneur likes to blackmail customers because they are sinning. Isn't life ironic, populated with hypocrites?
A harmonium is dumped off in the street by Barry's business, for no particular reason. Isn't life random?
A relatively nice, well meaning sister of Barry's tries to get a friend of hers to have interest in her unusual brother. This friend shows up in his life at the same time the harmonium (how cute, a harbinger of harmony) does. Isn't life not-so-random?
Etc, etc, etc.....
And finally, in life, isn't there a soulmate for everyone?
I'd try to finish off this questionable review with some sort of coherency, but if the movie didn't bother, neither will I. Still, I hope these observations help you decide whether or not this is the sort of movie that might appeal to you. To each their own strange and unusual, this movie just didn't work for me. It's neither strange enough, nor unusual enough nor romantic enough to elicit much more than a "why bother?" rating from my perspective.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Sandlers best work!
Added 10/6/2009
Sandler's portrayal of Barry Egan is the perfect example of dramatic performances by comedians being overlooked as 'Oscar un-worthy'! Credit the director with sculpting such a tragically humorous character, and Sandler for pulling it off! The entire cast is excellent!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Buy It - Thank Me Later
Added 8/5/2009
No Happy Gilmore/Billy Madison Here. By far my favorite Adam Sandler movie. I could watch this once a month if I wanted to. Worth every penny you might spend on it. Other reviews have said it better than I could, so i won't try. A must watch!! THAT IS ALL
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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i liked SANDLER before this , then i remembered , it's all
Added 11/14/2009
about the writing stupid . and direction . love ANDERSON and his films . i've since become quite the ADAM SANDLER fan as well , purchasing a number of his films that came out subsequent to this picture . i suppose there are folks whose cup of tea this is not . better luck elsewhere .
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Art House Comedy
Added 10/26/2009
I am a big fan of PT Anderson, but I found this to be his weakest effort to date. It was refreshing to see Adam Sandler play against his usual types of characters, and play a sweet, meek, insecure man who is looking for something in life. He finds it in an alluring woman who knew one of his sisters. Their budding relationship is interrupted by a visit from the cronies of a phone sex company trying to extort money from him. My wife could not stay awake through he film and just said it was boring, and I tended to agree with her. However when Barry makes the call to the phone sex line, the movie picks up and gains momentum. Anderson uses some filming techniques that do not really add anything to the film for me. he likes to experiment with colors and scenes are separated by Scopitones, I could have done without both. I think Anderson could have worked a little more on the story than on visual feel. The way a movie looks can add to it greatly, but when it becomes obvious that the filmmaker seems to be sacrificing story and character development for artistic creation with a camera, the movie suffers.
About the DVD: On the extra disc you get a special called Blossoms and Blood, which may as well be called Deleted Scenes. With extra artwork, three theatrical trailers and actual deleted scenes, the extras on the DVD flesh out the characters a little more making the actual film a little more enjoyable, but not much. However, true to PT Anderson's history, this DVD is missing a commentary track. It would be nice to see PT's thought process.
T
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Isn't life strange?
Added 10/26/2009
Barry Egan is an emotional mess, inexplicably prone to violence and panic attacks. Isn't life unpredictable?
Barry has seven sisters who, perhaps, have caused some of the psychic damage in him. Or maybe not. But they sure are noisy when all in the same place. Isn't life a pain in the ass with family-of-origin?
Barry might have some form of autism -- colors are brighter, noises are more distracting. Or the perhaps the director wants us to simply be disoriented by a lot of off-kilter percussion for more existential reasons. Isn't life more interesting with artistic amplification of our senses?
Barry sometimes imagines himself working by himself in his isolated office. Isn't life lonely?
Barry actually runs a business with lots of employees out of a warehouse and nobody seems to know what is going on (neither the audience nor the characters). Isn't life chaotic and funny?
A memory of a car crash and a truck nearly runs into an initially non-reactive Barry on the street in front of his "business". Upon further mental processing, he scurries to the safety of his warehouse office. Isn't life scary?
A phone sex entrepreneur likes to blackmail customers because they are sinning. Isn't life ironic, populated with hypocrites?
A harmonium is dumped off in the street by Barry's business, for no particular reason. Isn't life random?
A relatively nice, well meaning sister of Barry's tries to get a friend of hers to have interest in her unusual brother. This friend shows up in his life at the same time the harmonium (how cute, a harbinger of harmony) does. Isn't life not-so-random?
Etc, etc, etc.....
And finally, in life, isn't there a soulmate for everyone?
I'd try to finish off this questionable review with some sort of coherency, but if the movie didn't bother, neither will I. Still, I hope these observations help you decide whether or not this is the sort of movie that might appeal to you. To each their own strange and unusual, this movie just didn't work for me. It's neither strange enough, nor unusual enough nor romantic enough to elicit much more than a "why bother?" rating from my perspective.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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