h o r r i b l e

Rating: 2/10 (9 January 2005)

America's fascination with all things Sandler proves there is a devil, and Satan purchased this lame comedian's soul about 10 years ago.
Granted, Sandler's performance in 'Punch Drunk Love' was charmingly off-beat. However, his nuanced delivery was more the work of director Paul T. Anderson, who knew to keep Sandler under a tight reign, rather than any innate talent.
What we have here is a single joke (and I use the term 'joke' extremely loosely) 'comedy' that grows tired before the opening credits finish rolling. The very premise of the film, that Sandler essentially ignores ALL responsibilities (including earning a living) for several months to set up an elaborate scheme to restore Barrymore's memory, is purely idiotic. A lot of less-than-brilliant people seem to find this movie romantic, but if this is what passes for 'romance' these days, we are all doomed.
The secondary-characters are caricatures of people that were never entertaining to begin with. In fact, there is not one single thing in this movie that makes it worth recommending -- it's not funny, the plot is stupid, there is not one memorable quote and the characters are all boring, lacking coherent motivation.
Even the ending scene, meant to be endearing, is just plain moronic. SPOILER: Barrymore has a child with a guy that she 'meets' for the first time every single day? Their daughter is going to have some remarkable life with a mother that forgets giving birth daily. Just like the rest of this movie, this theme is pathetic and stupid.
Fortunately for me (and hopefully a few other sane people remaining on this planet), I avoided Satan's command to 'love Sandler no matter what garbage he gets paid $20,000,000 to do.'
If you have an IQ in the double digits, avoid this turd. 2/10