Punch-Drunk Love Page #8

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BARRY:

Did you really come to meet me on

purpose or are you lying about that?

LENA:

No, no. I did.

BARRY:

That's nice. It's nice.

(beat)

I've been looking around a lot

lately at promotional giveaways,

cross promotional work by some

companies. Do you remember all that

pudding?

LENA:

Yeah.

BARRY:

So that pudding was bought, I

bought that pudding because of a

pretty interesting promotion that's

sponsored by Healthy Choice and

American Airlines. It's designed to

encourage airline travel and

obviously designed to encourage

buying Healthy Choice products.

They make frozen meals, deli meats,

pasta sauce, breads, soups and ice

creams, this sort of thing.....

LENA:

Yeah?

BARRY:

....I'm sorry....I lost my

thoughts, what I was saying....

LENA:

You were talking about the

promotion --

BARRY:

-- the promotion says: buy any 10

Healthy Choice products and get 500

miles of airline travel or 1,000

for purchases made with a special

coupon. So in the supermarket, you

notice their products, first you

notice they have a Teriyaki Chicken

Dinner at $1.79 - that's a pretty

good deal....but then I noticed

they had soup at 89 cents a

can.....and you start to do the

math and you start to notice that

it's a really amazing deal because

I stumbled across the pudding at 25

cents a cup. Now the crucial thing

is the bar codes on the label.

That's those little bar codes, you

know? The universal product codes?

LENA:

Yeah.

BARRY:

That's what's used to redeem the

mileage, so in noticing the

pudding, each cup had an individual

bar code -- in other words: Two

dollars and fifty cents for ten

cups of pudding is 500 miles. Add

in the coupon:
it's one thousand.

You see?

LENA:

Yeah.

BARRY:

You see?

LENA:

Yeah, no, I see --

BARRY:

You see if you spent $3,000 dollars

on pudding you could earn over one

million frequent flyer miles.

LENA:

That's insane. That is really,

really crazy. That's just crazy if

you spend three thousand dollars on

pudding.

BARRY:

....yeah....

LENA:

So that was your pudding?

BARRY:

....No....

LENA:

I'm sorry. I thought you said --

BARRY:

No I didn't say that.

LENA:

I thought you said you bought all

that pudding --

BARRY:

My friend Carlos is doing it who

works with me. It's his. It's his

pudding, he's doing it. It's not

mine. He's crazy. I told him not to

do it. He's the one who's insane.

He only spent about one hundred

dollars so far though --

LENA:

Your sister was telling me a pretty

funny story about you, when you

guys were kids and you were

building a ramp for your dog and

you threw a hammer through a window?

Is that right? You threw a hammer

through a sliding glass door?

Barry starts to WELL WITH TEARS, which he hides very

quickly, holds a hand up to his face as if he's touching his

nose, and then he smiles;

BARRY:

I don't remember that, she might be

lying. I have to go the bathroom.

He gets up and goes.

CUT TO:

INT. BATHROOM - MOMENTS LATER

Barry walks in and goes a little crazy. He's mad at himself

and he HITS a stall....it seems loose already and falls

straight to the floor.

This makes him go crazier and he continues to BEAT and KICK

the sh*t out of the bathroom/stall.

HOLD. He collects himself and then he hesitates, looks

around, tries to collect the bathroom but it's in ruins, he

exits....

CUT TO:

INT. RESTARAUNT - MOMENTS LATER

Barry comes back and sits down, seems a little better. Tries

to be a little flirtatious for half a moment before: the

MANAGER comes over, leans in carefully;

MANAGER:

Hello.

LENA & BARRY

Hi.

MANAGER:

Sir, can I talk to you?

BARRY:

Why?

MANAGER:

Just have you for one second, please.

He looks to Lena, excuses himself.

ANGLE, OFF TO THE SIDE.

The Manager and Barry step away, in a quiet section of the

restaraunt, 2-shot, profile, in sotto; SLOW ZOOM IN.

MANAGER:

Sir, the bathroom was just torn apart.

BARRY:

Yeah.

MANAGER:

Did you do it?

BARRY:

No.

MANAGER:

You didn't just smash up the bathroom?

BARRY:

No.

MANAGER:

Well who did?

BARRY:

I don't know.

MANAGER:

You're hand is bleeding.

BARRY:

I cut myself.

MANAGER:

How?

BARRY:

On my knife.

MANAGER:

Sir, a young man saw you coming out

of the bathroom.

BARRY:

I didn't do that.

BEAT.

BARRY:

Why? ...what?

MANAGER:

Your hand is bleeding.

BARRY:

I know.

MANAGER:

I'm gonna have to ask you to leave.

BARRY:

Why?

MANAGER:

Sir, I have no way of proving that

you demolished the bathroom --

BARRY:

I didn't do it.

MANAGER:

Alright, well you're gonna have to

leave. You're gonna have to go.

BARRY:

Yeah, but I didn't do anything.

MANAGER:

I'm gonna call the police then, sir.

BARRY:

Please don't do this to me.

MANAGER:

The police are on their way.

BARRY:

Sorry.

He starts to move back....

BARRY:

Can I pay you here? Can I pay you

for our drinks and salad?

MANAGER:

That's fine.

Barry takes out some money and hands it over.

BARRY:

Keep the change, please.

ANGLE, BACK AT THE TABLE.

They walk back to the table and Barry whispers down to her,

very close, STEADICAM (leads them out - continuous)

BARRY:

We should go I think, I don't like

it here.

LENA:

Ok.

They head out of the restaraunt.

LENA:

Is everything ok?

BARRY:

Yes.

LENA:

What happened?

BARRY:

Nothing.

LENA:

What did he want?

BARRY:

Nothing.

They walk a bit.

BARRY:

I have a better idea of where we

can go.

LENA:

Ok.

They walk some more.

BARRY:

There's a better place for us to eat.

LENA:

Did something happen; are you alright?

BARRY:

Yes I'm fine. Everything is ok.

It's fine. Everything is fine.

They walk some more and get in the car.

CUT TO:

INT. BARRY'S CAR - DRIVING - NIGHT

75mm OVER ONTO BARRY. 75mm OVER ONTO LENA. Rear process or

poor man's process.

LENA:

So....how is your harmonium doing?

Barry looks at her......

LENA:

Your portable reed organ....the piano.

BARRY:

Well, it's fine. Thank you.

LENA:

Did you pick it up from the street?

BARRY:

What?

LENA:

Did you take it from the street in

front of your work?

BARRY:

...yes I did...?

LENA:

Are you learning how to play it?

BARRY:

Yes? I'm trying.

LENA:

Oh that's great.

BEAT.

LENA:

So you must travel a lot with all

that pudding you bought?

BARRY:

Yes no not really.

INT. LENA'S APARTMENT - LATER

Lena and Barry finishing up the date;

BARRY:

Ok....well...I'm gonna go.

LENA:

...yeah...

BARRY:

It was nice to see you again, to

see your face again, to go out with

you --

LENA:

I'll be around and back in town in

a few days --

BARRY:

Yeah.

LENA:

If you come to Hawaii --

BARRY:

Yeah, I don't know, we'll see about

that.

LENA:

You don't think you'll go --

BARRY:

I don't know.

LENA:

Ok. Well call me when you get back,

I mean, I'll call you when I get

back. I'll be back for three weeks

and then I go away for a month

after that. So maybe in that time....

BARRY:

Ok. Have a good trip.

They do a shake hands/kiss on cheek goodbye.

CAMERA IN THE HALLWAY with Barry as he walks away .....

CAMERA follows him as he swiftly walks away.

CUT TO:

INT. RECEPTION AREA/LENA'S BUILDING

Barry steps out of the elevator and walks to the exit,

passing a RECEPTION DESK WOMAN.....we hear the PHONE

RINGING......she calls out;

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