MickeyMoose15
04-12-2003, 09:47 PM
Released April 11th, 2003
Director: Peter Segal
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Adam Sandler, Marisa Tomei, Heather Graham, Luis Guzman, Lynne Thigpen, Krista Allen, Woody Harrelson, John Turturro, Allen Covert, Kurt Fuller, January Jones, Jonathan Loughran, Lou Rawls, Harry Dean Stanton
Premise: Dave Buznik (Sandler) is usually a mild-mannered, non-confrontational guy. But after an altercation aboard an airplane, he is remanded to the care of an anger management therapist, Dr. Buddy Rydell (Nicholson), who could probably use some anger management himself.
From a distance, the poster image of Anger Management doesn't seem to make sense but this film should be an interesting move for both of its stars. Jack Nicholson has been some-what tight cast into Oscar worthy films and hasn't really colored outside the lines which isn't altogether bad but this can make Nicholson look too predictable in his role picking. Adam Sandler, a former Saturday Night Live cast member, had the same tight-casting problems until his role in the P.T. Anderson film, Punch Drunk Love, which really didn't strike a cord with his hard-core fans. Sandler is also coming off the failure of his first (and possibly last) animated endeavor, Eight Crazy Nights. Can Anger Management bring renewed faith in the actors' hard-core group of fans or will it dampen their hopes of redemption after a horrible film?
The story goes that a man named Dave Buznik has life all going for him until a horrible incident on an airplane that sends him into the hands of Dr. Buddy Rydell and his anger management class. Dave is usually a very quiet guy who doesn't like to make any kind of public scene which would include kissing his girlfriend in front of a large group of people. All Dave wanted was a pair of head-phones so he could listen to the movie but after several attempts at asking the flight attendant, Dave asks once again and appears to get out of control from the view of others. When Buddy takes Dave under his wing, Dave begins to see that Buddy is just as nuts or even more so then his patients. As hard as he tries, Buddy's program seems to be back-firing and raises new anger in Dave. The story of Anger Management is a mixed bag at best. The story could have gone in a better direction but it is hard to say where exactly. The film starts off too slow at the beginning but starts to pick up after the first twenty minutes.
When seeing a film like Anger Management, you really don't expect Oscar worthy acting and you really shouldn't expect anything different with this. Adam Sandler is good actor but much of his funny moments come when he gets angry and somewhat psychotic. It is really hard for any actor to be tight cast but for Sandler, it really works well. Hopefully their will be more opportunities to show off his full range of acting like his role in Punch-Drunk Love. Jack Nicholson is great in this film. In a very rare moment, you get to see Nicholson act in a film just for the fun of it. Most expect him to be placed just in Oscar worthy films and playing sympathetic characters like he portrayed in About Schmidt but he offers something different that may break his mold of tight casting. The other characters in the film never really got to showcase much acting since the films was primarily focused on Sandler and Nicholson but they performed like most Sandler films.
Overall, Anger Management is a good comedy but not either Sandler's or Nicholson's best work. Certainly Sandler redeems after the embarrassment of Eight Crazy Nights but there are many out there who would agree that either the Waterboy or Big Daddy were much better then this. The main problem with Anger Management was that it was never really consistent. For the first twenty minutes, the feature starts off really slow but kicks into a big batch of laughs that gets the audience rolling on the floor. After that, it stalls and starts up again several times which makes it a problem for many audience members. Another problem was that many of the main jokes in the film were seen in the trailer and though there were many other jokes, they weren't as funny as the ones that were featured in the trailer. Is it really necessary to draw people to a Sandler film by giving away much of the main jokes in the film? Besides those problems, there were some good things to point out. The level of product placement in this film is a huge notch down from Sandler's previous films which is a bit of a relief. Sure it keeps costs down but it just comes off as cheap to some. The combination of Sandler and Nicholson really works but they aren't given too much to act off of. More then likely, most of the public will go see this film since is that last big film until X2 opens in early May but for those of you still deciding, see it but take caution. The film is a good popcorn flick but nothing extraordinary. Anger Management is definitely, though, a great end to the pre-summer season for movies.
My Rating: ***1/2 out of 5
Director: Peter Segal
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Adam Sandler, Marisa Tomei, Heather Graham, Luis Guzman, Lynne Thigpen, Krista Allen, Woody Harrelson, John Turturro, Allen Covert, Kurt Fuller, January Jones, Jonathan Loughran, Lou Rawls, Harry Dean Stanton
Premise: Dave Buznik (Sandler) is usually a mild-mannered, non-confrontational guy. But after an altercation aboard an airplane, he is remanded to the care of an anger management therapist, Dr. Buddy Rydell (Nicholson), who could probably use some anger management himself.
From a distance, the poster image of Anger Management doesn't seem to make sense but this film should be an interesting move for both of its stars. Jack Nicholson has been some-what tight cast into Oscar worthy films and hasn't really colored outside the lines which isn't altogether bad but this can make Nicholson look too predictable in his role picking. Adam Sandler, a former Saturday Night Live cast member, had the same tight-casting problems until his role in the P.T. Anderson film, Punch Drunk Love, which really didn't strike a cord with his hard-core fans. Sandler is also coming off the failure of his first (and possibly last) animated endeavor, Eight Crazy Nights. Can Anger Management bring renewed faith in the actors' hard-core group of fans or will it dampen their hopes of redemption after a horrible film?
The story goes that a man named Dave Buznik has life all going for him until a horrible incident on an airplane that sends him into the hands of Dr. Buddy Rydell and his anger management class. Dave is usually a very quiet guy who doesn't like to make any kind of public scene which would include kissing his girlfriend in front of a large group of people. All Dave wanted was a pair of head-phones so he could listen to the movie but after several attempts at asking the flight attendant, Dave asks once again and appears to get out of control from the view of others. When Buddy takes Dave under his wing, Dave begins to see that Buddy is just as nuts or even more so then his patients. As hard as he tries, Buddy's program seems to be back-firing and raises new anger in Dave. The story of Anger Management is a mixed bag at best. The story could have gone in a better direction but it is hard to say where exactly. The film starts off too slow at the beginning but starts to pick up after the first twenty minutes.
When seeing a film like Anger Management, you really don't expect Oscar worthy acting and you really shouldn't expect anything different with this. Adam Sandler is good actor but much of his funny moments come when he gets angry and somewhat psychotic. It is really hard for any actor to be tight cast but for Sandler, it really works well. Hopefully their will be more opportunities to show off his full range of acting like his role in Punch-Drunk Love. Jack Nicholson is great in this film. In a very rare moment, you get to see Nicholson act in a film just for the fun of it. Most expect him to be placed just in Oscar worthy films and playing sympathetic characters like he portrayed in About Schmidt but he offers something different that may break his mold of tight casting. The other characters in the film never really got to showcase much acting since the films was primarily focused on Sandler and Nicholson but they performed like most Sandler films.
Overall, Anger Management is a good comedy but not either Sandler's or Nicholson's best work. Certainly Sandler redeems after the embarrassment of Eight Crazy Nights but there are many out there who would agree that either the Waterboy or Big Daddy were much better then this. The main problem with Anger Management was that it was never really consistent. For the first twenty minutes, the feature starts off really slow but kicks into a big batch of laughs that gets the audience rolling on the floor. After that, it stalls and starts up again several times which makes it a problem for many audience members. Another problem was that many of the main jokes in the film were seen in the trailer and though there were many other jokes, they weren't as funny as the ones that were featured in the trailer. Is it really necessary to draw people to a Sandler film by giving away much of the main jokes in the film? Besides those problems, there were some good things to point out. The level of product placement in this film is a huge notch down from Sandler's previous films which is a bit of a relief. Sure it keeps costs down but it just comes off as cheap to some. The combination of Sandler and Nicholson really works but they aren't given too much to act off of. More then likely, most of the public will go see this film since is that last big film until X2 opens in early May but for those of you still deciding, see it but take caution. The film is a good popcorn flick but nothing extraordinary. Anger Management is definitely, though, a great end to the pre-summer season for movies.
My Rating: ***1/2 out of 5