Dir. Peter Segal, 2003, USA, 105 mins
Cast:
Jack Nicholson, Adam Sandler, Marisa Tomei, John C. Reilly, John Turturro.
Faced with a critical drubbing on release, though lapped up by audiences on both sides of the Atlantic, there's little denying that Anger Management is an astonishingly stupid film. But approach it in the right frame of mind and it's also frequently hilarious.
Dave Buznik is a typical Sandler character - a walking bundle of repressed emotions, pushed around at his place of work (where he designs trendy garments for cats) and unable to show public affection to his loving girlfriend (a sadly under-used Marisa Tomei). After a misunderstanding onboard a plane flight results in a cabin attendant being accidentally knocked unconscious, Dave is sentenced to a term of 'anger management' to help control his apparent rage. His anger therapist transpires to be Dr. Buddy Rydell (Nicholson), whose increasingly crazy methods see Dave's world start to fall apart at the seams. Buddy proceeds to fully integrate himself into Dave's life, accompanying him to work, destroying his CD collection for being too 'angry' and even accompanying him to bed. Along the way Dave is forced to confront some of his locked away emotions.
Nicholson's wonderfully restrained performance in About Schmidt appears to have left him with an abundance of pent-up energy, and in Anger Management he more than compensates. Buddy is an over-the-top comic creation; certainly not a master-class in refined acting, but it has to be said that Nicholson does crazy better than anyone else. Sandler meanwhile isn't exactly charting new territory, and there's little to persuade those that find him an endlessly pathetic figure to change their minds. But for Sandler fans he is on fine form, his amiable child-like mannerisms and hilarious stumbled lines a perfect counter to Nicholson's hysterics. He may only do variations on the one character, but he does it very well indeed. Anger Management also surrounds itself with a host of other celebrity appearances. In particular Buddy's 'Anger Management' class, a ragbag of Hollywood clichés, features shocking over-acting from the likes of John Turturro, Luis Guzman and er, John McEnroe. The performances are reminiscent of cartoon characters at times, and that could be the best way to approach the film as a whole.
Logic and credibility are dismissed as unnecessary baggage early on, the film content to operate in its own little world right down to a nonsensical 'twist' at the finale. But this does give raise to frequent bizarre sights, from Dave's confrontation with a childhood bully-cum-Buddhist monk (played by the wonderful John O' Reilly) to Heather Graham in her underwear stuffing her face with chocolate yelling, "Do you think I'm a porker?" It's the old straight man/crazy man routine we've seen a thousand times before, and for anybody who remembers the likes of What About Bob? and (whisper it) Loose Cannons with any pang of affection will find much to enjoy here. The only thing that leaves a slightly sour taste is the occasional vaguely homophobic joke, the film's nadir coming in the form of Woody Harrelson's drag queen.
Anger Management isn't a great film or even a particularly good one. But helped along by a decent central premise (after his recent escapades, Tom Sizemore undoubtedly can't bear to watch it) and two dominant central performances, it's something of a guilty pleasure. Half the time it's difficult to tell whether you're laughing with the film or at it, but at least it's never boring which is more than you can say about a lot of Hollywood so-called comedies.
Matt McAllister
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