Movie Review: The Upside of Anger (2005)
The Upside of Anger (2005)
Starring: Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Erika Christensen, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt, Evan Rachel Wood, Mike Binder
Directed by: Mike Binder
The wife wanted to see this movie when it first came out in March, pretty much only because of the involvement of Felicity herself, Keri Russell. She'll follow that chick anywhere. I managed to avoid the movie then, but when looking for a movie to rent on New Year's Eve, I decided to give this one a try. It got pretty good reviews when it came out, and was popping up on a few year end lists (mostly as an honourable mention). Since I've become a slave to my year end lists of late, I figured I should watch this to see if it qualified.
I shouldn't have bothered. I should have known that the quality of this film was exaggerated due to its release date in March, when critics are so worn down from three months of terrible films that any average film resembling something good can seem great in comparison. Which pretty much describes The Upside of Anger perfectly, a fairly average film that resembles something good.
The pieces are there. A quiet, adult-themed tale about suburban ennui, families, and divorce in the modern age, featuring a largely female cast (which in itself is a rarity), a 40-something female lead (a bigger rarity), and a comeback performance from a former superstar finally accepting his place in the movie landscape. All of which leads reviewers to sprinkle the terms "understated", "mature", "refreshing", or "real", when they really should be using the terms "dull", "dull", and "oh my god, this is so fucking dull".
In case I haven't made myself clear, The Upside of Anger is really, really dull. Its 118 minutes felt longer than King Kong and Memoirs of a Geisha combined. The movie is the story of one woman (played by Joan Allen), whose previous friendly and pleasant veneer is shattered and replaced by bitterness and anger when her husband disappears at the beginning of the movie, seemingly run off with his Swedish secretary. The rest of the movie shows how she lets her bitter anger affect her mood, her drinking habits, and her relationship with her neighbour and drinking buddy (Kevin Costner) and her four daughters (Russell, Erika Christensen, Alicia Witt, and Evan Rachel Wood, who bookends the film with really, really awful narration, which attempts to explain the meaning of the movie's title only to engender eye-rolling and groaning from any discerning listener). So, if two hours of watching a middle-aged woman alienate everyone around her through her constant bitchiness sounds like the perfect evening for you, than The Upside of Anger is right up your alley. For the rest of us, avoid this movie like the plague.
Because that is all this movie is about. Allen's character gets mad, so she drinks a lot and says mean things to people. Is it realistic? Sure. But that doesn't make it a movie. There isn't much of a plot to speak of, just little side stories involving the daughters that amount to nothing, a happenstance relationship with Costner's character that is relatively meaningless, and a lazy, haphazard attempt to give the film a story and some meaning with its terrible, terrible ending (an ending that is quite macabre when you think about it, which I get the feeling this movie would rather we do not). I don't even get the feeling that the movie even likes its own characters, which makes it damn near impossible for the audience to do so. It's telling that writer/director Mike Binder gives his own character the comeback line to Allen's character: "What should I do, Terry? Settle down and marry some pissed-off thing like you? I'd rather have someone come over and do dental work, every day, from my backside, up... through my ass!" Which pretty much sums up my feelings toward watching a sequel of the movie.
As far as performances go, they're all pretty good for what they are. Costner has finally figured out that he's too old to play baseball players, and instead... plays a retired baseball player. But, he does give some nuance to his character, instead of simply falling back on an awe-shucks grin. The girls all have decent chemistry with each other, and are all pretty cute, so that's something. The true stand-out from an acting perspective is Allen, who gives her all to the character's slide through anger and depression, and breathes the character through her every pore. The viewer has no trouble at all believing that this is a bitter and hateful woman, barely able to hang on to her sanity with the seething rage she barely keeps muzzled by consuming large amounts of alcohol. She nails the character so well that I pretty much wanted to stop watching the movie about 20 minutes in. So, bravo for that, I suppose.
So there you have it, a well-acted, dull and annoying movie about nothing that pretends to be a higher-minded, more mature pursuit than it really is. I shoulda rented Must Love Dogs or Hitch or something instead. Oh well, since we decided to start watching it after midnight on New Year's , the upside is that I can consider that decision my first mistake of 2006.
2/5
Related:
Broken Flowers (2005)
Ghost World (2000)
The United States of Leland (2003)