This one’s not perfect, but it certainly hits all the marks and has all the pieces in the right place, most of all its heart. Adam Sandler’s performance doesn’t quite hit the highs of Punch-Drunk Love – in fact, those moments when it comes close feel almost cloned from that performance if anything – but I’d rather watch him doing this kind of thing than his usual comic stuff (much of a guilty pleasure I’ve grown to enjoy those as) any day. He really sells the pain towards the end and there’s more than one scene that really did break my heart. Though there are comic moments early on, you can see in his eyes throughout that these scenes, or scenes like them, are coming – you know he’s gonna break and it makes all the comedy just a little poignant. I think this will grow on me fantastically with repeat viewings. If you haven’t yet come to the realisation that Sandler is way more than SNL, I’d first recommend Punch-Drunk ... but this is a fine substitute. Don Cheadle, Liv Tyler, and Saffron Burrows provide great support too, and Donald Sutherland in his few minutes of screentime is just brilliant.

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