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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 --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.

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

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.