Product Description

The Superbit titles utilize a special high bit rate digital encoding process which optimizes video quality while offering a choice of both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. These titles have been produced by a team of Sony Pictures Digital Studios video, sound and mastering engineers and comes housed in a special package complete with a 4 page booklet that contains technical information on the Superbit process. By reallocating space on the disc normally used for value-added content, Superbit DVDs can be encoded at double their normal bit rate while maintaining full compatibility with the DVD video format.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11150 in DVD
• Brand: SANDLER,ADAM
• Released on: 2003-06-24
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: DTS Surround Sound, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, Special Edition, Color, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .48 pounds
• Running time: 95 minutes

Amazon.com
Adam Sandler takes a shot at critical respectability with Punch-Drunk Love, a movie by director Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia). Sandler plays Barry Egan, a lonely small businessman who calls a phone sex line one night, only to find himself the victim of an extortion scheme the next day--the very same day on which he goes out on a date with the woman who may be the love of his life (the utterly delightful Emily Watson). Barry is a lot like Sandler's popular comic characters--socially maladept, prone to violence, always on the brink of embarrassment--but here Sandler plays it real; the result is both off-putting and sympathetic. Anderson's writing skills, unfortunately, are not as strong as his visual sense. Punch-Drunk Love has many strengths (including great supporting actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Luis Guzmán), but ultimately fizzles out. --Bret Fetzer

DVD features
Punch-Drunk Love is not typical Superbit fare, but the higher bit rate does beautifully present cinematographer Robert Elswit's striking colors, including the Jeremy Blake art. While the sound mix is mostly unobtrusive, there are some vivid moments that are well rendered in DTS. Unlike the majority of Superbit DVDs, there are some extra features on a second disc, and they're as much experiential as informational. A 12-minute piece, "Blossoms & Blood," compiles some alternate takes of events in the Barry-Lena relationship accompanied by Jon Brion's music, and 12 scopitones and a 2.5-minute segment showcase more art and music. There are also two unremarkable alternate scenes plus a mock commercial for Philip Seymour Hoffman's Mattress Man character that will make you wince and probably laugh. --David Horiuchi

From The New Yorker
Paul Thomas Anderson's whimsical romantic comedy is a bit like an amusement-park ride that builds tremendous forward momentum and then suddenly juts to the side. Even those of us who enjoy perversity in movies may be put off by its skittering, against-the-beat rhythms. Adam Sandler plays Barry Egan, a frightened fellow in a bright-blue suit, a nerd who sells merchandise out of a San Fernando Valley warehouse and stammers his way through the simplest encounters. At dawn, a harmonium is dropped from a truck outside the warehouse; a bit later, a lovely woman (Emily Watson) inexplicably falls in love with Barry as the music track offers drumbeats in arbitrary counterpoint to the imagery-in fact, everything that happens is arbitrary, and the characters are mysterious without becoming interesting. At times, Barry explodes with rage, slamming his fists into the walls. Anderson wants to say something quirky and powerful about love and the miraculousness of ordinary lives, but his world neither intersects with ours at any point nor hangs together as an independent magical creation. There are touches out of Harold Lloyd's and Jacques Tati's comedies and old Hollywood musicals, but just touches. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker