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Anger Management (2003)

Anger Management
"Don't make me get the golf clubs outta the trunk!!! "

Starring:

Jack Nicolson
Adam Sandler
Marisa Tomei

Released By:

Columbia Tri-Star

Released In:

2003

Rated:

PG-13

Reviewed By:

Adam Mast

Grade:

C+

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I have to admit that I am a huge fan of Adam Sandler. Of all his films, Little Nicky and The Waterboy are the only two I didn't give favorable reviews to. I was pretty excited for Anger Management. Not only for Sandler, but for Jack Nicholson as well. I mean Sandler and Nicholson in the same film? It had to be good, didn't it? The trailers have been hilarious, and the two stars are just off some of their best work (Punch Drunk Love for Sandler and About Schmidt for Nicholson). There was no way this movie could suck.

Sadly, this is a film that is mediocre at best. It certainly isn't aweful like Little Nicky, but it isn't as consistently funny as his better stuff.

In the farce, Sandler plays a young man who, on an extraordinarily bad day, gets sent to an anger management session run by a doctor (Jack Nicholson) known for his unusual techniques. Before long, Nicholson is rooming with Sandler in an attempt to weed-out all those nasty anger demons. In his words, "Your temper is the only thing you can't control by losing it."

Sandler doesn't depend on an annoying accent and he's surprisingly subdued throughout most of the film. It's everything around him failed so remarkably. Jack Nicholson is....well...Jack Nicholson. This is one of those movies in which the veteran actor's trademark arched eyebrow and devilish grin are on full display. Marisa Tomei also appears as Sandler's loving girlfriend, and it was amusing watching her succumb to Nicholson's charms.

Anger Management also boasts a notable cameo roster that includes; John Turturro, John C. Reilly, Heather Graham, Woody Harrelson, and Kevin Nealon..

Sadly, this stellar cast doesn't add up to a whole heck of a lot because the premise just isn't strong enough to hold up for 90 minutes. Sure, Anger Management has funny moments. You can't help but smile when Sandler and Nicholson sing "I Feel Pretty" while stuck in a traffic jam. Unfortunately, throughout I found myself working on my issues of Boredom Management.

Mostly, this film just serves up one absurd, over-the-top situation after another, as Sandler becomes increasingly angry while trying to tame his rage. And while the movie does have an explanation for each absurdity, that is perhaps the most absurd aspect of the film. I don't want to give anything away, but as I watched this, I couldn't help but be reminded of a certain David Fincher film.

Anger Management is sporadic at best. It certainly offers up laughs, but it lacks the energy and consistent humor of Happy Gilmore, the pure charm of Wedding Singer, and the depth of Punch Drunk Love. Sandler is strictly out to entertain and I can respect that. Sadly, he and Nicholson can't manage to take this one joke movie to a higher level.

:: zBoneman.com Reader Comments ::

Angry

Angry

I think if I read another review where you use the expression "sporadically entertaining" I think I'm going to hurl. True, this movie was not consistently strong, but Sandler's performance was consistently good. And since this is basically an Adam Sandler movie, I think it deserves a better mark. I've seen this movie several times and it just keeps getting better, I would suggest you give it another chance.

Anonymous Coward

Anonymous Coward

Hi there,

I'm sorry my using the term "sporadically entertaining" makes you want to hurl. As for the movie, it was nowhere near as funny as it could have been. I'm a Sandler fan, but this movie was tired. It isn't Little Nicky bad, but it's a far cry from the likes of Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison and Wedding Singer. And given that Sandler is capable of something as deep as Punch-Drunk Love, makes Anger Management seem like an even bigger mis-step. I didn't like 50 First Dates either but I liked it more than this film. I'm glad you enjoyed it though. To each his/her own. By the way, I did watch it a second time and felt the same way.

Angry

Angry

Nicolson and Sandler played off each other magnificantly - I think this film will be appreciated long after the critics have had their say

cHeNaY

cHeNaY

Anger Management was funny, and heaps betta than The Wedding Singer and Sandler's ova movies! i liked it

PH

PH

Dave Buznik is a mild mannered kind of guy that lets the whole world walk all over him. He has been doing his bosses job for five years with no respect or credit for any of the work he has been doing. When his boss finally gives him a chance to showcase himself by sending him to St. Louis on a business trip this is Dave's chance to finally shine and hopefully get a new executive promotion that just opened. But when there is a misunderstanding on the plane where the flight attendants and a US marshal think Dave has gone ballistic and he ends up being jailed for the incident. When he goes to court he is told that he will have to attend anger management as part of his sentence. The course is being taught by Dr. Buddy Rydell an eccentric and quite unconventional doctor who had just happened to be sitting next to Dave during the flight. But instead of just signing Dave out of the course like he wanted to the good doctor actually moves in with him and begins to take over his life. The doctor also introduces him to a group of quite crazy and angry of patients of his, and even assigns one of these crazies as his so-called anger ally. Dave who had had a very ordinary life before this as he was engaged to a beautiful woman Linda and a respectable job now finds all this in danger as the good doctor seems hell bent on destroying everything in a pretense of healing him from and anger he never felt he had. So now Dave must wither stand up for himself and try and escape from the clearly insane doctor or find his life torn to shreds but nothing is as easy as that as anything that can go wrong does and will.

I really wanted to like this movie, as the story seemed one of the most unique I had heard of in years and I had been excited about its release. It seemed impossible that they could go wrong teaming up such great stars as Nicholson and Sandler in what had to be one of the funniest pretense of all times but somehow and I can't tell you how because I am not sure how they screwed this movie up. Sure the movie is funny at times and I laughed quite hard at some of the funnier scenes but a lot of the movie was a trek through drudgery and plain silliness. Maybe I have grown cynical because I remember laughing so hard at Happy Gillmore the first time I saw it that I was crying. This movie does not even come to half that level and just seemed to be missing something. Sandler I believe is to be faulted as he just didn't seem to have the panache he once hard on the screen and trudge through a lot of his line and scenes. Nicholson seemed to also think that is crazy facial expressions could pull some of the scenes though their awkwardness rather than decent scripting and acting. Don't get me wrong I found the movie funny and ingenious at times but if failed to live up to his very high potential that could have made it one of the funniest movies of all time rather that a half asked job of a movie it was.

Doogie

Doogie

There were a few funny moments, but I agree that a lot of this movie was filled with too many over-the-top, unbelievable scenes that came off as desperate attempts for laughter. The near-the-end scene with Sandler beating up John C. Reilly as a reformed monk was almost too embarrassing to watch. Coming from the director of "Tommy Boy," I expected this to be much funnier.

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