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ANGER MANAGEMENT Send This Review to a Friend
So much is preposterous in this ultra broad comedy teaming Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler that it winds up with diminishing returns, even though, as one might have every reason to expect, it would be impossible not to get some funny moments with this combination. But the the stars must work extra hard for the laughs; screenwriter David Dorfman has tossed in so much plot and situation nonsense that an audience must be ready to laugh at just about anything no matter how rigged or stupid.
The film, directed by Peter Segal in the spirit with which it is written, even has New York's ex-mayor Rudolph Giuliani at Yankee Stadium cheering on Dave, a nebbish (Sandler), as he races onto the field to shout a marriage proposal to his girlfriend Linda (Marisa Tomei) while fans and Yankee ballplayers watch in sympathy as the meek Dave finally asserts himself. It's that sort of a picture.
One can imagine a high concept pitch--Sandler, a wimp who never gets angry is sent to Nicholson as an anger management counselor--before the straining to fill in the plot blanks began. The film is launched with Dave as a child being goaded by a girl playmate to kiss her in front of all the other kids. As he shyly makes his move, a boy pulls down his pants revealing his tiny weenie to much derisive laughter. Traumatized for life. When we see him as an adult flying off on a business trip, he can't kiss Linda goodbye in public. He has a lot to work out.
Events on the plane lead to Dave being wrongly arrested for assaulting a flight attendant, and the judge (LynneThigpen) sentences him to the care of Dr. Buddy Rydell (Nicholson) for anger management classes. One member of the anger group is John Turturro as Chuck, whose anger can be funny as it escalates. He also has some good lines, as when he works up his emotions about the trauma of having fought in a war. "Vietnam?" he is asked. "No," he answers, "Grenada." Buddy insists on moving in with Dave, the better to watch him. There's not much point in detailing more of the busy plot, which gets sillier by the minute.
Rydell is mischievously manipulative, which gives Nicholson the chance to act like a tormentor and opportunist. Among the characters we meet along the way are Woody Harrelson in drag and John C. Reilly as Dave's childhood nemesis, now a Buddhist monk. There's a shamefully unbelievable final twist meant to explain the absurdities. By that time, either you have enjoyed the film on its own dumb terms, or may have long wanted to escape. Is this what they mean by escapist entertainment? A Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures release.
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