I mean, really act. He almost totally drops the adolescent idiotic routine in Punch-Drunk Love. If his performance doesn’t totally provide a change in actor-status, I’ll be very surprised. I found myself watching this film with my head tilted and one hand on my heart, three times.
I always find it interesting when scenes in a film produce varying reactions in the audience. For example, in one scene Barry (Sandler) confides in his brother-in-law that he doesn’t like himself much lately, and has a problem crying uncontrollably and unexpectedly. He breaks down, and people in the audience laughed. I didn’t. I don’t think it was meant to be a comedic scene. But we are so used to seeing Adam Sandler acting like an ass that it has become difficult to sense real emotion in his performance. And believe me, a real range of emotion is expressed by him in this film, from agoraphobia to naked aggression, all of which are extremely justified. Hopefully this will be a turning point in his career. I look forward to his next performance. Highly recommended.
