Versatile 'Upside of Anger' is madcap, poignant
From: North County Times March 16, 2004
by: Dan Bennett
Mothers and daughters ---- go figure. "The Upside of Anger" does just that, diving into that chaotic dynamic and emerging with as much truth as it can muster, not all of it pretty, much of it funny, sad, everything in between.
Along the way, "The Upside of Anger" free-falls into multiple sidebar issues, including broken homes, middle-age angst, sanctity of family, emerging adulthood, falling in love again when least expected. It's a funny, trippy ride, tinged with poignancy, tough and tender.
Joan Allen, who probably should be allowed to star in whatever film she wishes, for our sake, plays Terry, a 40-something mother of four headstrong daughters. When we first meet Terry in her Michigan home, she is drunk, angry and railing at her suddenly missing husband, whom she has accused of running off to Sweden with his beautiful young assistant.
The daughters seem almost nonplussed concerning this development, and we can only guess that maybe the situation isn't that surprising to them. Terry rages, and drinks, all the while conflicting with her daughters in the very real, alternately caring and angry, often absurd way mothers do.
Lurking in the background is the good-intentioned if vaguely slow-witted neighbor Denny (Kevin Costner), a former baseball star now hosting a radio talk-show. Denny is obviously attracted to Terry, and sensing his opportunity, attempts a subtle move into her life without getting too pushy. She, in turn, pushes him back out the door, but we can see she just needs some time.
On things go for the next three years, as the daughters grow, bickering with their mother, distracted by their own problems, pulling together in times of fear and desperation. The new makeshift family grows, too, and everybody changes, as people do. This journey is tumultuous, though, with funny escapades and sad developments.
"The Upside of Anger" is mostly a showpiece for Allen, the versatile performer who elicits sympathy for Terry even when we want to shake some sense into her, and who deftly, loosely and without fear creates a character stubborn and wise, exasperating, nonsensical and usually correct, even as she proves herself so without tact.
Allen is given wonderful dialogue by writer-director Mike Binder, the veteran comedy writer whose credits include "The Sex Monster" and the HBO series "The Mind of A Married Man," and who also plays a pivotal secondary character in the film.
With Costner stepping aside for Allen to do her thing, perfectly willing to play Denny as aging, disheveled, charmingly clueless but wiser than we knew, the chemistry works. And with Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell, Erika Christensen and Alicia Witt ---- four mostly well-known and talented young actresses ---- each bringing something different to the piece as the world-weary daughters, the ensemble shines.
There are some plot and motivation missteps in "The Upside of Anger," and some of the emotional manipulation is tweaked a little too strongly. Finally, though, there is heart in the story, in the behavior, and audiences are likely to relate to different aspects of the film, enjoying its antics while cringing a little at its familiar truths.