The Upside Of Anger

Three entries in one week? That's GOTTA be a record.

This week's second movie review is the afforementioned "The Upside Of Anger". Terry Wolfmeyer (Joan Allen, The Contender) is having a rough go at it. Her husband left her with his secretary, so now she has to raise their four daughters on her own. Emily (Keri Russell, Felicity) wants to be a ballerina, Andy (Erika Christiansen, Traffic) is pondering skipping college for the workforce, Hadley (Alicia Witt, Vanilla Sky) is trying to graduate college, and Popeye (Evan Rachel Wood, Once And Again) is discovering boys. If that isn't enough, her neighbor/former baseball player/radio host Denny Davies (Kevin Costner, like I need to tell you what he's been in) just wants to spend more time with her. Let's just say that's the tip of the iceberg.

My wife wanted to see this film, and since it was her turn to pick the movie (with this new job, I promised her a "dinner & movie" once a week, and we'd take turns picking), I had no choice. Granted, I had a bit of interest, since the film was written and directed by Mike Binder (The Hollywood Knights), a great standup comic from back in the day. Chick flick or not? The mind boggles.

On one hand, you had all of the "female bonding" gig. On the other hand, you have some good comedy that even I chuckled at. Would I have seen this without the spouse? Probably not. So I guess this qualifies this as a "date movie".

As far as the film itself, Joan Allen is ALWAYS great. Bet the farm on that. As Terry, she shows both the external and internal struggles of her character as if it were second nature, and the chemistry she has with the entire cast is phenomenal. Even Kevin "bad accent" Costner made an effort to act, so it couldn't be that bad off. And Erika Christiansen is pretty good lookin'.

After much thought (and scattershooting), I will give "The Upside Of Anger" a 6.5, which translates to "see it if you're on a date and feeling whatever about the flick selection".

Until next time, when you never know what I might pull out of my sleeve.

BB