Punching Henry Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Punching Henry Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 18, 2017

It might be easy to come to the conclusion that Henry Phillips, or at least the alter ego he portrays, is a masochist, given the two films which feature Phillips playing more or less a version of himself are entitled Punching the Clown and Punching Henry. Of course, calling Phillips a masochist might imply he actually enjoys being pummeled by the vagaries of fate, when (according to these two films, at least) it really doesn’t matter how he reacts—fate is going to keep on punching one way or the other. Punching Henry is a kinda sorta sequel to Punching the Clown, a comedy which won the Audience Prize at Sundance and which may have at least slightly raised Phillips’ profile beyond fans of stand up and Comedy Central specials. Punching the Clown introduced Phillips’ character of Henry, a hapless comedian who is also a rather gifted guitarist and who utilizes music as part of his routine. Henry’s career hasn’t exactly been exploding, and Punching the Clown built some comedic momentum out of documenting Henry’s seeming genetic proclivity toward snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Punching the Clown actually gave Henry an all too brief moment of actual success, with a comic series of misunderstandings leading to sold out engagements and a record deal which, none too surprisingly given the overall context of the character, soon goes south, leaving Henry branded a neo-Nazi for an innocent question about a bagel’s provenance. The film featured the same sort of absurdist overkill to apparently mundane situations that has elevated all sorts of other films and television entries, especially those centered around performers who have struggled for years in the stand up community. Punching Henry follows much the same template, getting this sad sack character back to the supposedly glamorous climes of Los Angeles, where a top television producer named Jay Warren (J.K.Simmons) thinks Henry’s showbiz saga will make perfect fodder for a new television show.

Punching Henry doesn’t just ape Punching the Clown’s basic plot mechanics, it also follows its predecessor’s structural footsteps by offering a lot of interstitial scenes where Henry is being interviewed by a radio personality, in this film a woman named Sharon Levine (a sweet but underutilized Sarah Silverman). That allows Henry to detail various points in his history while also providing bridging segues between what is essentially a vignette driven enterprise. While the opening scenes revisit some of Henry's past misfortunes, it also shows that the performer does have fans, at least as evidenced by a gaggle that greets him outside of a club one evening. Unfortunately for Henry, it turns out that at least some of his fans are as patently unlucky as he is (this particular scene is just one featuring cameos by comedians whom some may recognize as regular denizens of Comedy Central, in this case Brendon Walsh).

Let’s face it—Los Angeles’ narcissistic tendencies aren’t exactly a stretch for snarky comedy writers, but what’s rather appealing about Phillips’ approach is how determinedly sweet he is about everything. This is a guy (or at least a character) who readily submits to a heckler rather than fighting back. (As an aside, whoever wrote the subtitles for this release made an hilarious mistake. The heckler attempts to derail Phillips by calling him “Fogelberg”, a reference to singer songwriter Dan, but the subtitles say “focal bird”, which I personally found guffaw worthy.) With Henry back in Los Angeles attempting to make a go of it with Warren, the film actually spends as much time on apparent sidebar issues as with anything focused strictly on the silly world of show business. This includes his relationship with longtime friend and erstwhile partner Jillian (Tig Notaro), a woman in a relationship with Zoe (Stephanie Allynne) that provides Punching Henry with a perhaps unneeded subplot of lesbians attempting to adopt (something that leads to an awkward and perhaps equally unnecessary subplot of them asking Henry to father a child for them).

The film does better where one might expect it to, namely in sending up the ludicrous and sometimes downright cruel world of the entertainment industry. Kind of interestingly given Henry’s penchant for bad luck, it actually appears that he’s found a true friend in Warren, a guy who seems to sense a universal story in Henry’s tale of woe. Of course things end up spiralling completely out of control, once again due to a completely inadvertent action on the part of Henry which leads to unforeseen consequences. Punching Henry never delivers the emotional dividends of Obvious Child, nor does it really exploit the same sort of subversive humor that energized In a World..., the two films this one probably reminded me the most of, but like its main character and lead actor, it’s affably charming in its own way and often slyly humorous.

Punching Henry Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Punching Henry is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Once again technical data on this shoot isn't readily available on the internet (at least that I could find), but this looks digitally shot, and (considering what was probably a miniscule budget) looks really appealing crisp and well detailed throughout most of the presentation. The interview segments in the radio station feature a lot of close-ups, where fine detail is excellent (see screenshot 3, among some others). The fact that so much of the film takes place in sunny outdoor environments in and around Los Angeles also tends to support really good palette reproduction and commendable detail levels across the board. As should probably be expected, the dimly lit club scenes don't have quite the same impact, especially with regard to fine detail. There are no issues with image instability or compression hurdles.

Punching Henry Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Punching Henry's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track gets a decent enough workout in the club scenes, where both Henry's faltering attempts at tunesmithing as well as the crowd noises offer good immersive capabilities. Several of the outdoor scenes also dot the surrounds with ambient environmental sounds. Otherwise, the film's dialogue scenes, which often play out in intimate surroundings, are presented cleanly and clearly with no problems whatsoever.

Punching Henry Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes

  "Threesome" Song (1080p; 3:32)

  The Folksinger (1080p; 1:29)

• Brendon Walsh Suffers (1080p; 1:31) provides a number of alternate takes of Walsh's gag with the parking meter that's in the film.


• Stupid Joe (1080p; 1:45) does similar service with some of this character's outlandish introductions for supposed performers (listen carefully to their names).


• Trailer (1080p; 2:21)

Punching Henry Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The supposed "glamor" of show business is once again put through the comedic mill in Punching Henry, and while the film is more gently humorous than laugh out loud hilarious, it features a really winning lead performance by a guy who seemingly can't catch a lucky break. You don't have to be in showbiz to know how that feels. Technical merits are strong, and Punching Henry comes Recommended.