Punch-Drunk Love

Punch-Drunk Love is a 2002 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzmán, and Mary Lynn Rajskub.

After the release of his previous film Magnolia (which ran over three hours), Anderson stated that he would like to work with Adam Sandler in the future and that he was determined to make his next film ninety minutes long. The film was produced by Revolution Studios and New Line Cinema, and distributed by Columbia Pictures; it features the video art of Jeremy Blake in the form of visual interludes. The film received positive reviews, but was a box office bomb.

Plot

Barry Egan is a single man who owns a company that markets themed toilet plungers and other novelty items. He has seven overbearing sisters who ridicule and emotionally abuse him regularly and leads a lonely life punctuated by fits of rage and anguish. In the span of one morning, he witnesses an inexplicable car accident, picks up an abandoned harmonium from the street, and encounters Lena Leonard, a coworker of his sister's, Lena having orchestrated this meeting after seeing him in a family picture belonging to his sister Elizabeth.

Dementia pugilistica

Dementia pugilistica (DP) is a type of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease with features of dementia. DP may affect amateur or professional boxers, wrestlers as well as athletes in other sports who suffer concussions. DP is also called chronic boxer's encephalopathy, traumatic boxer’s encephalopathy, boxer's dementia, chronic traumatic brain injury associated with boxing (CTBI-B), and punch-drunk syndrome. DP was historically considered equivalent to CTE but is now considered a subtype of CTE.

The condition is caused by repeated concussive and sub-concussive blows (blows that are below the threshold of force necessary to cause concussion), or both. Because of the concern that boxing may cause DP, there is a movement among medical professionals to ban the sport. Medical professionals have called for such a ban since as early as the 1950s.

Symptoms and signs of DP develop progressively over a long latent period sometimes amounting to decades, with the average time of onset being about 12 to 16 years after the start of a career in boxing. The condition is thought to affect around 15% to 20% of professional boxers.

Punch Drunk (TV series)

Punch Drunk was a British sitcom created and written by Clayton Moore. It was produced by Colin Gilbert of The Comedy Unit, BBC Scotland.

The show ran for 1 series of 6 episodes in 1993 on BBC1. The first episode was directed by Colin Gilbert and the remaining five by Ron Bain.

It starred Kenny Ireland as Vinnie Binns, the owner of a boxing gym, who discovers a young prospect in Hance Glover (John Kazek) after spotting him perform in a pub fracas.

Both Vinnie and Hance hold a candle for Vikki Brown (Diana Hardcastle), the girlfriend of the head of the Doctors Against Boxing organisation, Norman Banks, played by Jonathan Kydd.

Vinnie's seedy boxing arch-rival is Hunter (Sean Scanlan) whose plooky sidekick is Slug (Gilbert Martin).

Other characters were boxing trainer Neillie (Jake D'Arcy), Hance's mother, Mrs Gordon (Claire Nielson), and Danny, a slow-witted boxer at the end of his career, played by Grant Smeaton.

Critical response

From British Comedy Guide

References

Punch Drunk Love

Punch Drunk Love may refer to:

Drunk Love

Drunk Love is an early EP from Las Vegas, Nevada-based Alternative rock band The Cab.

Track listing

Later Material

The tracks "I'll Run" and "Take My Hand" were re-recorded and included on The Cab's full-length debut album, Whisper War. The track "I'll Run" was also featured as a free download in demo quality on the band's MySpace.

References