The Upside of Anger

[ilovemovies]

This movie has been getting surprisingly strong reviews. I thought the trailer was just decent, but if the reviews are correct, then it should be more than just decent. It might be even be the first great movie of 2005. I certainly hope so. I look forward to it.

[Fisting Ackbar]

Doubt I'll get to see it in theaters but it should be a decent to good rental. And unlike others, I don't have anything against Costner so I'm sure his presense won't bother me.

[FilmBuff84]

Saw the trailer for the first time today, looks amusing. Haven't read any reviews of it, but it looks like it won't be a bad little time out at the movies, but doesnt look like anything i'll regret if I miss though. Joan Allen looks like she has a meatyrole though, and Evan Rachel Wood and Erike Christensen are good actresses.

[Moviefan02000]

I saw the trailer in front of Sideways and I think it looks good, I doubt I'll get to see it in theaters though.

[chilli pepper]

Originally posted by Fisting Ackbar
Doubt I'll get to see it in theaters but it should be a decent to good rental. And unlike others, I don't have anything against Costner so I'm sure his presense won't bother me.

Ditto.

[chinton]

you guys shou8ld see it aside form an ending that doesnt mke sense its a great movie. The dialogue is so natural and funny as Hell. Also Costner gives a grea t performance. Ya Im shocked too.

[MadsenOMC]

HUGE SPOILERS!!!!

I liked this movie quite a bit, aside from a weak opening and a fairly ridiculous ending. I didn't buy the beginning at all. Joan Allen's husband doesn't come home one night, and when she finds out that his secretary has moved back to her native Sweden, she instantly believes that he has gone with her. No other possibility is even considered. We never find out if she suspected an affair all along, or if he has cheated on her before. None of his clothes are missing. It's not very believable. Thankfully, the movie quickly recovers. The acting is superb, especially Allen's. Costner is very good, as are Keri Russell, Alicia Witt, Evan Rachel Wood and Erika Christensen. But this is Allen's show and she is remarkable. It's a very funny movie, and I laughed out loud quite a few times. The dramatic moments work well and it never becomes overly sentimental or sappy. These feel like real people. They talk and act like real people. We care about them and their fate. I enjoyed spending time with them. Two other flaws: I could have done without the subplot involving the youngest daughter's gay friend, and the ending is pretty far-fetched. Other than that, this is a really good movie that's worth your time and money.

7/10

[Browntown]

The Upside of Anger
http://www.browntownjohnny.com/index.php


Mike Binder was a good stand-up comic from Detroit in the early eighties (along side Leno-Seinfeld-Williams, sharing the stage) and has since became a very accomplished writer and director. His best work has hit cable (Sex Monster, Londinium) but he's known for doing the horrible "Blankman". His writing is sub-Albert Brooks/Woody Allen/Blake Edwards but still has a flair for good comic rhythm. "The Upside of Anger" is a knock-off of James L. Brooks' "Terms of Endearment". A woman on the edge loses her husband and goes into a funk. With 4 daughters and a drunken neighbor, she is having a hard time with control.

The cast of pros like Joan Allen (worked with Binder as an actor before in "The Contender) and Kevin Costner (doing a variation of his "Tin Cup" role) make this a real treat. The secondary roles to young starlets like Evan Rachael Wood, Kerri Russell, Alicia Witt, Erika Christiansen make it a chick flick. The stars are game for a lot of sex talk and family rants along with a little romance. "Anger" is just way too much with an over-ripe script that is all over the place. If Binder wrote a conventional script, it would be a near classic. Instead it's warmed over from other movies with no real focus. There are some very funny moments, thanks to Costner (well cast as a radio guy with no life) and Binder doing good comic relief as a radio producer. Joan Allen is remarkable in a tragic/comic starring shot (her best work ever). The girls are pretty, and ER Wood is amazing.

Binder is on the rise now (Ben Affleck's next comedy) and he is a real funny actor (giving himself a great role). Alcoholic humor and a jolting tribute to David Cronenberg (a very good in-joke). I had some reservations but it is a memorable flick.

[Lynn7]

Spoilers


I really did not like this movie. right from the beginning it all seemed so forced and the acting techniques were good but It hought the characterizations rang false. right at the beginning when Allen thinks her husband has run off with another woman she is so flip to Costner's character- it just did not ring true to me the way she acted it. (He acted it badly too)

I liked the daughters but the way they were always cooking and having regular meals did not ring true. They said the mother had not made them lunches in years so why so many wonderful faimly dinners by the teenage daughters?

Too much time spent on stupid plot points and no introspection to speak of. Even at the end- that should have messed up Allen's character bad and yet she and the kids recovered without any conversation shown- pretty strange, IMO.

Totally disappointed in this. Terms of Endearmant wanna be but miserably fails IMO. Terms Of Endearment characters were fullly developed and the plot proceeded in a very beleivable manner. Not so in this lazy movie.

[Dee93]

I've been an Alicia Witt fan for some time now, any truth to the rumor that she has a particularly....um, "good" scene in this flick?

[Lynn7]

I really like her too. I can't think of any scene with her that really stood out though:confused:

[MadsenOMC]

Well, like you said, the mother hadn't made a lunch in years, so why is it so hard to believe that the daughters would cook nice dinners? I would say that is very believable. It's a flawed movie, but I think the leads are two well-developed characters and the plot is believable (save for the very beginning and very end). The dinner table scenes and the family interactions are 100% dead-on. I recognized a lot of my family in those scenes, in terms of what was said and the awkward silences and all that.

[dellamorte dellamore]

I liked this one , nothing groundbreaking , but i can easily see Binder's love for foreign melodrama all over this thing , i felt like i was watching a french dramedy , except in english .


Binder steals every scene , and i like the resolution of his character , i'm sure plenty of women feel the same way about those older sleazebags taking advantage of younger women .


I recommend this film , but maybe more as a rental , it features excellent acting , likeable and believable characters , it's insightful , classy , honest and life affirming . i had a good time with this one , but it may not be for the Sin City crowd :) .

[Lynn7]

Originally posted by MadsenOMC
Well, like you said, the mother hadn't made a lunch in years, so why is it so hard to believe that the daughters would cook nice dinners? I would say that is very believable. It's a flawed movie, but I think the leads are two well-developed characters and the plot is believable (save for the very beginning and very end). The dinner table scenes and the family interactions are 100% dead-on. I recognized a lot of my family in those scenes, in terms of what was said and the awkward silences and all that.

Well, if she was not the type to be making a lunch then it seemed weird that the daughters would all be so devoted to making such grand dinners-I would beleive that maybe one of them might have liked to cook but all of them taking such pains for a dinner each night just rang false unless the mother had always done that and then fell off when the jhusband left but that did not seem to be the case. A more typical teenage thing would be to hat up chicken nuggets or a slice of pizza or a peanut butter sandwich. Maybe it's just the fact that Inever knew any teenage girls who cooked dinners liket hese unless their moms demanded it- this mom did not seem to be too interested in anything except her bottle.

I did not think the leads were well developed at all- what did we learn about them really? She had been married and had 4 daughters, the husband has been upset for months and then she thought he ran off with the secretary and then one of the daughters mentioned that the mom used to be really nice. Also she was hard on t he girls cause she wanted then to be successful and yet she had been pushed to not follow her dreams.

As far as he went we knew he played baseball and that other guys had ended up better off then him.We also found out he signs bats and baseballs etc and works as a DJa nd does not want to discuss baseball. He also has had a crush on the woman for many years and is trying to develop the land out back.


Not much sould searching going on in this movie. Yes, the family scenes were well done but they were really empty. Two whole hours and that was all we knew about them. Lots of attention on sexual relationships and should we or shouldn't we but taht was about it.

If felt like the director kipt setting up these great dinner scenes but there was no basis for reality in them. Like the scene where he chases her in his car and they block the road to all oncoming cars- they weren't really even saying anything important - the scene rang so false to me.They seemed to be deliberately holding aback traffic for no apparent reason except some people might have thought the situation was funnu but he should've developed it in a way that was convincing.

The thing that really lost me was the ending's resolution- a great twist and then absolutely nothing was done with it. No one talked it out- life just went on. Oh anotehr thing (ranting here) the fact that they never showed the first baby- all this time to try to establish relationships supposedly and then to skip over the baby entirely but mention that another one was on the way. Not a good directorail decison in my opinion.

[Lynn7]

Originally posted by dellamorte dellamore
I liked this one , nothing groundbreaking , but i can easily see Binder's love for foreign melodrama all over this thing , i felt like i was watching a french dramedy , except in english .


Binder steals every scene , and i like the resolution of his character , i'm sure plenty of women feel the same way about those older sleazebags taking advantage of younger women .


I recommend this film , but maybe more as a rental , it features excellent acting , likeable and believable characters , it's insightful , classy , honest and life affirming . i had a good time with this one , but it may not be for the Sin City crowd :) .

I liked Binder's character too but again the way this character was treated did not ring true. If he had been a jerk I could understand it but he had been so kind to the Costner character and it had been a relationship between two consenting adults. I liked the way he played the character and I felt veery sympathetic towards him but although I could see why the Allen character was mad at him, Costner's reaction did not make sense, IMO. and the reaction was way too delayed- they even socialized with the couple so his indignation did not ring true especially after the girl had dumped him- so mean!!!