THE UPSIDE OF ANGER

“The Upside of Anger” is a strange comedy about two people with little going for them, drawn together by their mutual inadequacies, loneliness, and ability to drown their sorrows in a good stiff drink.

As Denny Davies, a retired baseball player living off the fumes of his career as a radio talk show host, Kevin Costner is not afraid to let the signs of middle age define his character. Denny is anything but dapper. He lets the chips fall where they may in his

laissez faire approach to life. It is no small wonder that he plants himself in the midst of Terry Wolfmeyer’s home when her husband flies the coop presumably with a much younger woman.

Joan Allen is Terry Wolfmeyer, the next door neighbor, a fiery hausfrau with attitude. She is hot tempered and quick to criticize. Her sarcasm and barbed wit cuts down everyone within earshot. That includes her four daughters. They are learning to grin and bear it. Denny offers solace and Terry accepts - on her terms. In the process, Costner turns the movie over to Joan Allen who is often uproariously funny, sometimes touching, and always real. She lets Denny into the calm eye of the storm brewing within her before unleashing her complex bundle of emotions on him with the force of a hurricane. He acts like a sponge absorbing her anger. He is endeared to the girls for taking the pressure off of them and he loves it.

Denny is tired of signing baseballs for extra cash and rehashing the same old stories about his glory days. He finds Terry’s blunt honesty refreshing after a lifetime of listening to the platitudes of his adoring fans. She is the yin to Denny’s yang. Denny always found Terry attractive, so when opportunity knocks, and their glasses are full, he tries to fill a need left by her husband; but Denny never attempts to fill the shoes of her daughters’ father. The best he can offer them is friendship and a good ear.

One daughter is the film’s narrator (Evan Rachel Ward) recording her thoughts in her high school journal; another (Alicia Witt) is pregnant and engaged; another (Keri Russell) loves classical dance and struggles to remain thin; the last (Erik Christensen) is the rebellious one who has an affair with Denny’s producer, played with sleazy glee by the movie’s writer/director Mike Binder.

A few scenes are reminiscent of “Terms of Endearment” with enough variation in the situations to set it apart. There’s the unfaithful husband, a hospital scene that makes the mother come to her senses, the next door neighbor who, while not exactly sweeping the mother off her feet, is charming and sincere enough to win her affection in and out of bed. When Denny and Terry begin fighting like husband and wife, “The Upside of Anger” shifts into another gear that never quite reaches the dramatic heights that characterized its progenitor.

Every once in a while, “The Upside of Anger” feels too much like a TV movie. The filmmaker sets up a premise, carries it through to a payoff that could occur just before a commercial break and then comes back with the next set up. There is also a twist ending that wraps up all the loose ends too neatly. But “The Upside of Anger” is ultimately enormously entertaining thanks to a great cast that never falters. They give the movie an emotional truth that more than compensates for its shortcomings.

Copyright 2005

Joan Allen got Oscar nominations for playing a dutiful wife in these two films.

“Nixon” (1995) - Dir. Oliver Stone: a three hour plus episodic look at the rise and fall of President Richard Milhous Nixon with a very plain Joan as his stalwart wife Pat. Tough going at times but like with any Stone film, the performances are amazing. Anthony Hopkins plays the president. With Paul Sorvino, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins and others too numerous to mention.

“The Crucible” (1996) - Fine adaptation of the 1953 play by author, Arthur Miller brings this story about the Salem Witch trials to life. Joan Allen is Elizabeth Proctor, the dutiful wife who follows her husband to the grave when they are executed for being possessed by the devil. Originally written to mirror the feeding frenzy of the McCarthy hearings, “The Crucible” still manages to enthrall with a superb cast headed by Daniel Day Lewis as husband John Proctor, Paul Scofield as their judge and jury, and Winona Ryder as the one to name names - I mean witches.

Some other variations on the mother image from Joan Allen.

“Pleasantville” (1998) - Brother and sister Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon leave the real world of the nineties and enter the imaginary Black and White world of 1950’s sitcoms through their TV set putting the town of Pleasantvile, U.S.A. into moral chaos. The inhabitants become flush with color when their passions are unleashed. Joan is the perfect Father Knows Best mother to Tobety and Reeses mother in both worlds.

“The Ice Storm” (1997) - The mood and temperament strikes an unerring parallel to Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita.” While his film dealt with the emptiness felt by the upper echelons of Rome’s society, this one plants those same empty feelings in a suburban community in Connecticut. The effects of the adult’s aimless lives are mirrored in the behavior of their kids. Joan Allen is but one of the unhappy people, forced to deal with a lecherous alcoholic husband, key parties, and boredom. Kevin Kline plays her husband. The adult cast includes Sigourney Weaver and Jamey Sheridan among others. Some of the kids are played by Tobey Maguire, Elijah Wood, Katie Holmes and Christina Ricci. This one looks better with each viewing.

A few movies with Kevin Costner as your everyday guy

“Fandango” (1985) - Kevin is one of five college grads who take to the road one last time before joining the working world that awaits them. Directed by buddy Kevin Reynolds who guided Kevin through “Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves” (1991).

“American Flyers” (1985) - Kevin is one of two brothers who grasp life by the throat in physically demanding bike race. One of them is dying. You’ll have to see it to see who it is. An exciting film from director John Badham of “Saturday Night Fever” (1977) fame and writer Steve Tesich who won an Oscar for another bike flick, “Breaking Away” (1979).