A fresh, funny, pointed comedy
The Upside of Anger (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:167
Fresh:122
Rotten:45
Average Rating:6.7/10
Consensus: A comedy/ drama for grown-ups, with fine performances by Joan Allen and Kevin Costner.
Runtime: 2 hrs 1 min
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $18,742,061
Synopsis: Starring Joan Allen, THE UPSIDE OF ANGER spans three years of a woman's life following her husband's sudden disappearance. Terry Wolfmeyer (Allen), an affluent suburban Detroit wife and mother,... Starring Joan Allen, THE UPSIDE OF ANGER spans three years of a woman's life following her husband's sudden disappearance. Terry Wolfmeyer (Allen), an affluent suburban Detroit wife and mother, goes from a paragon of sweetness to a volcano of rage in the wake of her husband's desertion; she thinks he has jetted off to Sweden with his Swedish secretary. Barely holding it together for her four daughters (distinctively played by Alicia Witt, Keri Russell, Erika Christensen, and Evan Rachel Wood), Terry fitfully adjusts while befriending Denny Davies (Costner), a retired baseball player and radio personality up the street who shares her love of the all-day cocktail hour. Allen is a delightful force, displaying serious comedic talent and effortlessly stealing each scene. She glows with an unaffected sexiness, while Costner shines as the seemingly all-wrong man who turns out to be completely right. Writer-director Mike Binder casts a keenly perceptive eye on male-female relationships, a topic he also explored in his critically-acclaimed HBO series THE MIND OF THE MARRIED MAN. Binder also appears in a role as Denny's producer Shep, a shallow womanizer with surprisingly resonant reasons for being shallow. As the three years pass, Terry and her daughters are confronted with varying individual situations, choices, and compromises, with moments that ring true in ways both moving and strikingly funny. THE UPSIDE OF ANGER is an ideal combination of drama and humor. [More]
Starring: Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Erika Christensen, Alicia Witt
Starring: Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Erika Christensen, Alicia Witt, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell, Mike Binder
Director: Mike Binder
Director: Mike Binder
Producer: Alex Gartner, Jack Binder, Sammy Lee
Composer: Alexandre Desplat
Studio: New Line Cinema
Reviews for The Upside of Anger
A squarely suburban movie with a distinctly bourgeois-shaped window on the world, but it's genuine and exceptionally well observed.
The upside of Mike Binder's deeply flawed attempt to marry midlife romantic comedy with domestic farce is two nearly perfect performances by Joan Allen and Kevin Costner.
An emotional reality check that is profound, laugh-out-loud funny, articulate and shattering.
The film is carried by Costner and Allen, who project a chemistry so incrementally built on reluctant camaraderie, they almost seem like siblings.
Ms. Wood does her best with the material, as do Allen and Costner. It takes more than good acting to make a good movie, though. Good writing helps, and there's not enough of that here.
The movies haven't rewarded Allen's formidable talent with a star turn that cuts her loose and unfurls her resources. Until now.
The mixture of sitcom and soap opera that worked in 'Terms of Endearment' feels stale here, especially since the final-reel revelation is more cheat than treat.
Costner and Allen show you what it means not just to play a role but to inhabit it.
The film has exhausted itself with fits of glib hysteria long before its truly stupefying final twist, a stunning betrayal of audience trust.
Costner's funny and sincere in a role that winks at his many previous baseball movies. And Joan Allen brings home the kind of performance that wins awards.
A terrific performance by Joan Allen as one who is angry for the wrong reasons.
An engrossing and well-acted psychodrama about the toxic side-effects of anger, a potent and volatile emotion.
A poignant. bittersweet, exquisitely evocative movie that packs an emotional wallop. It's richly touching without being sentimental.
Playing a drunken, bitter matriarch, Joan Allen gives such an astounding performance in The Upside of Anger that she elevates the film above its melodramatic trappings
Latest News for The Upside of Anger
June 08, 2006:
Sandler to Star in 9/11 Drama
Big-screen comedian Adam Sandler is going to get a little more serious for his next role. He'll be starring in Mike Binder's 9/11 drama "Empty City," along with Don... More...
February 21, 2006:
Actress Trio Joins Sandler's "Reign"
Actresses Liv Tyler, Saffron Burrows, and Jada Pinkett-Smith will be joining Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle in "Reign O'er Me," a post-9/11 drama from "Upside of... More...
January 11, 2006:
Chicago Critics Pick Their 2005 Winners (and Iowa!)
The Chicago Film Critics Group announced their nominees just before New Years' Eve, and they reconvened this week to vote on their year-end favorites. Also, the Iowa Film... More...
January 10, 2006:
Online Film Critics Offer Their Annual Nominations
The OFCS, which is hosted right here at Rotten Tomatoes and (full disclosure) includes yours truly as a member, announced their year-end nominations yesterday ... and we hope... More...
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