Saw Punch Drunk Love yesterday. At last, a decent Adam Sandler movie. Actually, I find it strange that critics seem to be relieved, as if Sandler is finally living up to his questionable talent or at least they don't have to keep beating up on him. Who cares?

Sandler plays Barry, a bizarre loser who is prone to mumbling and fits of violence; i.e. he is playing himself again. Somehow Emily Watson, sweet, beautiful Emily Watson falls in love with him, and practically has to knock this retard over the head with a sock full of wet sand to get him back to her place. But yeah, they meet cute and stay cute throughout the picture, despite problems with a Utah family running a crooked phone sex line. There's a trip to Hawaii as well.

It was a good movie. I'm not sure Paul Anderson was exactly motivated by the prospect of making a good Adam Sandler movie so much as he was motivated by the prospect of making 8% of the gross from a good Adam Sandler movie, but it still works. It 's more Fellini-esque than Altman-esque. Anderson benefits from not being so damn serious for a change. I wouldn't give a lot of creedence to people who refer to Sandler's untapped depths; he's almost out of his league. But since the movie is constructed around Sandler, it holds together.

I never thought I'd say this, but there were times I related to Sandler. He has seven sisters, interfering harridans who constantly inturrupt him at work with truncated, demanding , pushy questions. Okay, I only have one sister like that, but she calls a lot, so it seems like seven. It's okay, I like her; I'm just saying I can relate.

This film continues Emily Watson's degradation. Three weeks after audiences watched her fellate a serial killer in Red Dragon, we watch her tumble into the fourth circle of hell, or in bed with Adam Sandler. I wonder how many stalkers she has?