Anger Management Review
by Robin Clifford (robin AT reelingreviews DOT com)April 15th, 2003
"Anger Management"
Mild-mannered Dave Buznik (Adam Sandler) has always let people push him around, even as a kid. Now, at age 35, he is little more than a go-fer for his rude, uncaring boss. When he has to take yet another last minute flight to be at his employer's beck and call, he is mistakenly accused of attacking a flight attendant and is sentenced by the court to curb his aggressive behavior. He finds himself in the hands of radical therapist Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) who plans to teach Dave a bit about "Anger Management."
On paper, this project must have looked like a match made in heaven. Adam Sandler, on the heels of his critically (if not popularly) acclaimed performance in "Punch-Drunk Love," seems like the perfect choice to play a man who has repressed his inner feelings since he was a child. Sandler can do the slow boil, with explosive results, like in "Happy Gilmore" and "The Water Boy," to sometimes amusing consequences. In "Anger Management," though, he plays the slow burn more akin to his Barry Egan in "Punch-Drunk," a more serious character than his norm. As such, he is really just a second banana to the shenanigans of Dr. Buddy.
Jack Nicholson puts a wicked-looking spin on Buddy that reminds of his horny little devil in "The Witches of Eastwick" and Jack Torrance in "The Shining." Jack's mirthfully demonic looking face, with his arched eyebrows and twinkling eyes, gets the most mileage out of his campy character. Following his serio-comic performance in "About Schmidt," he wears his Buddy Rydell character like a comfortable pair of old shoes and makes me think that old Jack is back in town. It isn't a stretch for the actor but he has some good fun doing it.
The script, by newcomer David Dorfman, is an amusing premise that never really takes off, mainly due to Sandler's Buznik. There is nothing to his character that Sandler hasn't done before and better. The routine love interest with Linda (Marissa Tomei) is underlined with Dave's inability to show affection in public, stemming from a humiliating incident as a kid when he was about to have his first kiss. Linda is also being romantically pursued by her old college sweetheart, Andrew (Allen Covert), a snobbish, demeaning character who is there only to get his eventual just desserts.
The members of Dr. Buddy's anger management therapy group, named the Fury Fighters, is made up with some amusing, though two-dimensional, comic figures. Luis Guzman, as Lou, is an angry gay guy sentenced to seek Buddy's help for beating his boss. Stacy (Krista Allen) and Gina (January Jones) are two, knock dead gorgeous porno starlets and lesbians sentenced for stapling together the lips of one of their occasional boy toys. John Turturro, as Chuck, is a psycho who happens to be totally in touch with his anger.
The rest of the supporting cast are sound enough but fail to flesh out. Marissa Tomei has done very little to develop her career, at least in comedy, since winning the best supporting actress Oscar for "My Cousin Vinny" and seems to be here for the paycheck. Heather Graham plays her (uncredited) part as the sexy trap that Buddy sets for Dave. Woody Harrelson seems to be having the best time of all as transvestite hooker Galaxia This is the last performance for character actress Lynne Thigpen who plays the judge sentencing Dave to his own private hell. John C. Reilly plays a belligerent Buddhist monk with relish.
Helmer Peter Segal has a knack for silly comedy and that is mostly what we get with "Anger Management." Dorman's screenplay sets up a series of sequences that culminate in the film's surprise ending. Unfortunately, the idea of "Anger Management," which could have been a dark, amusing diatribe about our society, was left in the hands of jokesters. It makes me wonder what a better scribe and director could have done with the concept. I give it a C+.
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
[email protected]
[email protected]
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
