The Upside Of Anger Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Sometimes what tears us apart helps us put it back together
...is the person you can become.
A sharp-witted suburban wife, Terry Wolfmeyer, is left to raise her four headstrong daughters when her husband unexpectedly disappears. Things get even more hectic when she falls for her neighbor Denny, a once-great baseball star turned radio d.j. This leaves her daughters out on a limb. They are forced to juggle their mom's romantic dilemmas as well as their own.
| Kevin Costner | Denny Davies |
| Joan Allen | Terry Ann Wolfmeyer |
| Erika Christensen | Andy Wolfmeyer |
| Keri Russell | Emily Wolfmeyer |
| Alicia Witt | Hadley Wolfmeyer |
| Evan Rachel Wood | Lavender 'Popeye' Wolfmeyer |
| Mike Binder | Adam 'Shep' Goodman |
| Tom Harper | David Junior |
| Dane Christensen | Gorden Reiner |
| Danny (IV) Webb | Grey Wolfmeyer |
| Magdalena Manville | Darlene |
| Suzanne Bertish | Gina |
| David Firth | David Senior |
| Rod Woodruff | Dean Reiner |
| Stephen Greif | Emily's Doctor |
| Mike Binder |
7.10 out of 10 (7330 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Good Acting, Bad Movie
posted on 23 Aug 2009The Upside of Anger epitomizes bad direction. The pacing was off, the music was distracting and the voice overs were needless and lazy. I am hoping that the movie is re-edited before it actually hits theaters. This movie is about a somewhat quirky mom and her four quirky daughters and her quirky neighbor. One of the reasons for poor pacing is that the movie tries to tell individual stories about each of the four children in addition to the main story, but it is only and hour and a half long. Almost all of the character choices made are heavy handed. Alicia Witt looks as though she was told to look sardonic at almost all times. Let's make Kevin Costner into something of a pig. But wait, let's make him into kind of a lovable pig. The movie seems to be very aware of itself as a movie. It seems like there are points put in as obvious foreshadowing, but not in a good way - they stick out like a sore thumb. Since the opening scene is at a funeral (not really a spoiler since it is the first scene, but since they will hopefully remove that first scene, it may turn into one), every time you see someone in a car or someone on a bike, the question became "Is this the person who dies?" When does it happen, when does it happen? And seriously, a girl named Popeye? Really?
Well worth seeing.
posted on 23 Aug 2009I keep wondering if the only people who write these comments are the ones who really enjoyed the movie. I noticed that other magazine and newspaper reviews generally gave it a "good but not great" rating. You know, the old "B" rating. Yet I and most of my fellow commentators rank it from eight to ten stars. I must be missing the point these other middle-of-the-road reviews keep making. I thought it was one of the funniest films I've seen in a long time. But the humor wasn't based on slapstick situations, not even close. It was the humor of real people doing and saying things that were not intended to be funny but were hilarious. And Joan Allen, as the middle-age personification of anger, was simply great. I think she deserves an Oscar nod for this performance. Kevin Costner, as the aging semi-lush radio talk-show host, gave his best performance in a long time. I may even go see it a second time, just to remember what it once felt like to sit in a darkened theater and share loud and simultaneous laughter with my fellow audience members.
Character study strictly for female audience
posted on 15 Aug 2009Joan Allen gets to stretch her acting muscles in UPSIDE OF ANGER, which writer-director Mike Binder apparently wrote with her in mind. Allen is the mother of several daughters, all played by familiar faces, who suddenly and inexplicably loses her husband. He just seems to disappear off the face of the earth, and the rest of the movie is about her trials and tribulations. Kevin Costner plays her new love, but this is Allen's movie, not Costner's. Well-acted and written, but guys are not going to sit still for it. It's really a chick flick. I will say that if you are a guy and can make it through this weeper, the ending contains a grisly shock. Also, the daughters are all drop-dead gorgeous, and show off a fair amount of skin.
Wow!
posted on 03 Aug 2009This movie was absolutely amazing! I am a huge Evan Rachel Wood fan and once again she has amazed me! The actors were perfect....well, I wouldn't have had Binder's character in the movie, but other than that it was perfect. They worked so well together. The story itself was so captivating. Upside of Anger is one of those films that I could see again the next day. I will be buying it as soon as it's available on DVD. If this is not playing near you, I would recommend the drive. I had to drive quite a ways but it was all worth it. Evan, you're so amazing! Keep it up! Anyone know when Pretty Persuasion comes to theatres?
Good acting, terrible story
posted on 03 Aug 2009There is a plot hole so large in this story that makes a so-so story laughable. Both main characters do a good job on what is at-best a mediocre script. I should also mention that I like Kevin Coaster films. And she is of course a top notch actress. Part of the problem is that it was presented like a somewhat heartwarming tale of two mid-lifers who learn some real life lessons together. Did that scene with the two cars at the crossroads not feel entirely contrived ? Spoiler follows...The spoiler is: if he really did die on the property that would mean his car never left -- don't you think someone would have done at least a cursory search of the grounds ??????
The Upside of Grey Goose.
posted on 01 Aug 2009Spoilers!!!!!!!!!!! You call this anger??? You call this Transformation??? Anger is paying 8 bucks to see a film about the transformative power of anger and sitting for two hours watching Joan Allen give a stupefying performance as a boring, self-indulgent housewife. What an utterly pedestrian take on anger! First, as far as anger goes, Terry seemed angry in a way only identifiable to a very sheltered WASPy class of people. I did not come away from this film understanding anything more about WASPy anger, or the social pressures of conformity felt by upper class women, or the challenges faced by women sheltered by marriage. What I did understand was that it's apparently quite easy to shock and offend people in Bloomfield simply by being snappish and socially inappropriate. Wow, how outrageous! Oh, that crazy, angry Terry Wolfmeyer! How absurd! Secondly, the film's fatal mistake was opening *after* the Wolfmeyer's marriage had apparently dissolved and Terry was already angry--or grouchy, as the case may be. Terry's transformation through anger--the entire premise of the film--was left entirely to the pithy narration of the daughter: "My Mom had always been the nicest person, really." Really??? How so??? How did she change??? How was she different by the end of the film??? Give me something to go on!! Narration is not a substitute for plot--it's a weak cop-out. Just tell the audience the story instead of actually developing a script that demonstrates it. Thirdly, I have to take issue with the way in which Shep--the only really noble, honest character in this film--was shabbily dismissed. Denny, who had hooked up with his friend's wife *a week* after the marriage broke up, physically attacked his friend Shep for making the most ambiguous possible pass at Terry weeks after she and Denny had split. What a hypocritical plot device! Shep was raked over the coals throughout the film for being an older (and unattractive) man who liked young women--Ohhh, how disgusting! How vile! What a bad, bad man! Bad to whom??? Shep was honest about who he was and what motivated him and he didn't care what people thought about him. And, he was the only character in this film who consistently stood up to Terry's whiny, childish behavior. He should have slapped her! She deserved it! I supposed by the end of the film, the audience was supposed to share Denny's righteous anger--but truthfully, Denny just came off as a possessive, hypocritical lout. I thought liking Kevin Costner's character in a film was too good to be true--and I was right. Basically, this film seems to have been made exclusively for an audience of highly repressed, self-involved, suburban middle aged women. There was a really annoying *wink and a nod* quality to the dilemmas faced by Terry--something I felt completely alienated by.The only "Upside" of this film is the fact that it'll make a great contribution to the Lifetime network's menu of pithy, suburban drama. But I'll take real anger, thank you very much.
definitely a "one time movie"
posted on 28 Jul 2009Maybe I'm seeing the wrong Joan Allen movies but so far everything I've seen her in (Mists of Avalon, The Notebook, and Upside of Anger) she is playing the same angry, bitter, nasty woman. Kevin Costner and the girls playing the daughters were a treat and were the only thing that kept me in my seat for the whole movie. Personally I would not recommend this movie to anyone since it looked like an ad for the liquor companies. And by golly there was smoking in this movie. Didn't Hollywood know the smoking Nazis will come after them for that? But I digress....this movie will be a "one time only" for me and will definitely not be on my "to buy" list when it comes out on DVD.
If only the rest of the movie were as good as Joan Allen.
posted on 26 Jul 2009THE UPSIDE OF ANGER features this great, tour-de-force, hilarious performance from Joan Allen as a woman who becomes a pissed-off bitch when her husband disappears on her. She owns the movie completely, and, though she's often better than the film itself, it still manages to give her entertaining things to say and do.
She spends the first half of the movie drunk out of her mind, saying the most preposterous, awful things. The teens behind us in the screening kept laughing their asses off, for Allen really was that funny.
She maintains strong chemistry with Kevin Costner, who gives one of the best performances I've seen from him in years, and he gets some really funny moments. But the movie belongs completely to Allen. She's hilarious.
Her best scene, maybe, involves her meeting with her eldest daughter's future in-laws, after being blindsided with the news of the engagement. As her character's composure completely deteriorates, Allen garners some big laughs, even though you also feel embarrassed for everyone in the scene with her.
At another point, her character has become so well-established that she's able to generate laughs from a dismissive facial expression.
The movie itself is weak. The direction from Mike Binder, who costars, isn't great. The screenplay has some great moments but too many weak ones. The daughters, played by Alicia Witt, Evan Rachel Wood, Erika Christiansen and Keri Russell, barely escape becoming cariacatures and spend the majority of the time reacting to Allen. Sometimes the movie drags, and the ending, once it gets there, feels like a cheat.
It's another sad case of a great performance in a humdrum movie.
An Upside to This Year's Movies
posted on 22 Jul 2009Life doesn't come with an instruction manual or a script to follow, it's basically improv on a daily basis, and as it plays out people and things often are not who or what they seem to be on the surface. It's reality, as opposed to the way you expect, hope or want it all to be; truth, as opposed to an individual perception of truth. That's life. And "The Upside of Anger," written and directed by Mike Binder, explores some hard realities that differ drastically from expectations and perceptions.
The film opens with a funeral, a somber note which in a sense prepares you for what is to follow, after a flash back of three years, at which point the story begins. Terry Wolfmeyer (Joan Allen) is at loose ends because her husband has run off with his secretary, leaving her and four daughters behind to fend for themselves. Angry, distraught and a stone's throw from bitter, Terry turns to alcohol to deaden the effects of what has been a life-altering experience. Luckily-- or maybe not-- Terry has a neighbor, Denny Davies (Kevin Costner), an ex-pro baseball player turned radio talk show host, with whom to share a drink and commiserate. Her daughters (three teens and one in college) are supportive, as well-- to a point. But they are each in their own way also struggling to understand why their father deserted them. By all accounts, this was in no way a dysfunctional, angst-ridden family, so the actions of their father is a mystery to them all. Naturally, it's a pivotal point in their lives, and before any of them can move on, especially Terry, they have to know why he did what he did. In the meantime, with or without this needed closure, life is happening to and around them.
Binder (who also appears in the film as the producer of Denny's radio show) displays an astute knowledge of human nature with this film, and how random the myriad twists and turns of life can be. He holds your attention from the opening scene (who's funeral is it, anyway?), and just when you think you know where the story is going it takes an unexpected turn. And he is in no way attempting to manipulate his audience; rather, he is giving you a reflection of the way life so often simply does not go the way you think it's going to. It's a succinct look at relationships, and of how fragile-- as well as resilient-- we all can be.
As Terry, Joan Allen sets vanity aside to create her character and turns in an Oscar caliber performance in doing so. When she gets up in the morning she looks like a middle-aged woman with insufferable problems and a hangover, a woman in the throes of coping with a traumatic experience who is desperate to reconnect with a life she no longer has and who will do anything within her power to hang on to what she has left. She's walking a tightrope over a deep abyss and she's understandably on edge, so when one of her girls tugs the rope and compromises her control and security, she quite naturally lashes out, proving the old adage you always hurt the one you love. There's a scene in which a grieving Terry draws her hands to her breast and, head lowered, utters a cry, and anyone who has ever known any kind of grief or loss in their life will at that moment know exactly what she is going through. It's a terrific piece of acting, a performance that is altogether affecting and memorable.
And, as performances go, Kevin Costner, too, puts vanity aside to create a character that is entirely convincing. Denny Davies is paunchy, his hair is thin and most of the time he looks as though he's had one beer too many. Still, he's engaging, and you get the feeling there's a complex individual hiding behind an external simplicity that perhaps helps to mask his true feelings about a lot of things in his life, including his career on the diamond. Why, for example, does he refuse to talk about baseball on his sports talk show? In it's purity, this is arguably Costner's finest performance ever.
Top notch performances are turned in, as well, by Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell and Alicia Witt as Terry's daughters, respectively, Andy, Popeye, Emily and Hadley; and by Binder himself as Shep. In the end, "The Upside of Anger" is an involving, memorable film that celebrates life and leaves you with a sense of hope, that no matter how bad things get we all have the capacity to get through it and somehow find the light at the end of the tunnel. And that's the magic of the movies.
One of the Worst Films Ever Made
posted on 18 Jul 2009If you don't want to waste two hours of your life, skip this movie. It is truly awful, the acting, the plot, the characters, there is nothing here. The only good thing that I can say is that at least I didn't spend one penny on this piece of crap (I checked it out from the library). I will always regret the two hours I spent watching it.
unreal situations
posted on 16 Jul 2009The screenplay is poor. The characters do not act like real people, especially the Joan Allen character. This character does not know how to file a missing persons report, does not know what ballet is, does not work, has her daughters cook the dinner, and does nothing all day but take showers, drink, hop in and out of bed, and be mentally and physically abusive of family and friends. I could feel nothing for this character. The movie is a comedy in the sense that you will repeatedly
laugh because of its ineptness.
A movie that moved me....
posted on 14 Jul 2009The upside of Anger is a movie with a lot to say about many things, in addition to anger. So many movies today have nothing to say...and become so easy to forget. This one was memorable. The movie spoke of relationships, emotion, perseverance, humor, tolerance, and of course anger. This movie was a near masterpiece, really. The performances were terrific by all the females, especially Joan Allen. The script was terrific and the directing was top notch too. Kudos to Mike Binder!!All people have shitty things happen to them...that's a fact. The lesson in the movie is that the important thing is, how do we deal with those shitty things. We can choose alcohol, we can choose anger, we can choose to hurt those we love. But eventually, we will chose happiness, despite all the mayhem life throws our way. Happiness is a relative term. I loved the fact that there were many things about Terry (Joan Allen) that I didn't like, yet, I still liked her enough to be sympathetic towards her. I don't cry that easily during movies, but this one brought the Kleenex out, twice. I am a guy and I am aware that tears are very therapeutic. A good cry is awesome..if it's real. Many things have been said about the ending, but watch it for yourself. I have no problems at all with the ending. See this movie, I dare you not to like it.
Great chick flick...has a real good story line
posted on 12 Jul 2009I got "roped into" watching this suprise of a film recently by my wife....however I was pleasantly surprised! The movie kept my attention (probably because there were four, rather hot young daughters of the star Joan Allen) and the acting by Kevin Costner was great!
I really enjoyed the big twist at the end of this film....but would have enjoyed this film much more if it was a strong "R" rated film instead of "PG13". We freaks out there could always use a little nudity from the gals and some hot sex to make any chick film "taste" better...those four daughters would have looked great sunbathing nude in the back yard...for example! :)
All in all...I'd recommend this fine film to anyone who is expecting little from it....because you will gain a lot from it. Well done!
UPSIDE IS AN EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE
posted on 06 Jul 2009There are very few movies that really smack you around;this is one of them.Although Costner is wooden as Kris Kristofferson thank God for Joan Allen[I loved her in Searching for Bobby Fisher]to bring some real emotion to the screne.The story is simple enough a woman is effected by the sudden running off of her husband.She's angry and resentful and takes her anger out on everyone including her girls.Keven pushes his way in like a car sales man to befriend her at a time of hurt not allowing her to grieve alone.When Allen finds her daughter in bed with her boss{MIKE BINDER,DIRECTOR OF THE MOVIE}she flips out and gets even more angrier.Watch the scene at dinner when Allen thinks a violent thought towards shows producer.THAT WAS A GREAT TOUCH!!!!! UNEXPECTED.GOOD GOING MIKE A GREAT CURVE BALL.The movie in whole won't win any awards and the ending is about judging people or rather assuming then knowing the true facts being bloclked by rage and hatred.It's a good little movie filled with depth and insight I wished Kevin would loosen up and enjoy the role{s} he's given.
Tightly wound and ready to snap
posted on 02 Jul 2009Should anybody ever ask you the meaning of the idiom "tightly wound", you only need recommend THE UPSIDE OF ANGER as a visual explanation.
Joan Allen stars as Terry Wolfmeyer, the middle-aged mother of four daughters precipitously abandoned by her husband, who's apparently run off to Scandinavia with his Swedish personal secretary. Terry internalizes her tremendous rage, and only just manages to control it with constant alcohol consumption. Her composure is further taxed by daughters Andy (Erika Christensen), "Popeye" (Evan Rachel Wood), Emily (Keri Russell), and Hadley (Alicia Witt) - all of whom are making life choices regarding love, sex, and education with which Mom vehemently disagrees. Circling the periphery of the Wolfmeyer household looking for a romantic opportunity with Terry is Denny Davies (Kevin Costner), an easy going but lonely ex-baseball star who subsists on beer and the money earned from autographing baseballs and hosting a radio talk show.
Once again, Allen demonstrates that her acting ability is a national treasure. Is it too soon in the 2005 film season to mention Academy Award? And Costner, who's had his Big Screen ups and downs, hits it just right with Davies, a role perhaps suggesting a composite of the characters he played in BULL DURHAM and TIN CUP. The young actresses playing the daughters are all beautiful and delightful, though it stretched my credulity to believe that they were siblings. And I think that there was one sister too many. (As in the planting of garden trees, three is the "right" number.)
It's enormously refreshing both to see a love story involving a man and woman, albeit boozy walking wounded, on the down slope of middle-age, and to see at work a talented actress (Allen), who, at least for this production, managed to crack the infamous age ceiling traditionally imposed on female leads. You go, girl!
Anger, though caustic to the soul, can also keep one going during bad times. Here, when Terry's mental crutch is suddenly yanked away late in the film by a surprising discovery in the woods in back of her house, she must emotionally evolve, and do it fast or sanity is lost.
For those viewers on the far side of forty, THE UPSIDE OF ANGER should prove to be an enormously engaging movie experience about relationships and inner salvation. While it won't, perhaps, prove to be the best film of 2005, it'll certainly be in the Top 20.
The Producer
posted on 30 Jun 2009Good films are almost always nested in some way. This is a good. Oh, its not because Joan Allen is a good actress. I suppose she is, but her character here is an easy one to play and pretty much goes nowhere. And it is not so much because of Costner, though he really does act here: every nuance is perfect, even the not quite natural laugh. He's trained away that thin wavery voice.No this is a good one because of how it is structured, _and_ that all involved are competent.The structuring is of multiple nesting. One nesting: We see a funeral at the very beginning. As the movie progresses, we see it is a remake of "Terms of Endearment." Or so we think. Four daughters, each with a story — which one will die? There are at least two false leads until we realize that we are being toyed with.This film is centered on Mike Binder's character. He has written himself in as producer, a radio show as surrogate for the movie. It stars Costner's character from his other competent movie: "Bull Durham," but later in life. Costner brings up a woman in the show, and everything follows from that, including and entanglement with a daughter.Another fold: one daughter is a performer, another a producer (aspiring at first) another a producer literally. A final fold: the youngest daughter narrates the film, which is the very film she is making on her iBook.Its this structure that allows us to be captured by the story, and the characters and the situation they spin.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
It was so so Good !
posted on 28 Jun 2009I saw this movie not really knowing much about it except that Joan Allen was in it and I like her a lot, I was not prepared for how good the whole movie was and she surpassed her other great roles even more in this. I think what I liked most about the Mike Binder's style was that conversations were often not finished, in other words, unlike other movies where every conversation needs to come to a conclusion or better understanding, he left them for the audience to sort out, as in real life conversations, there are often no conclusions, it was an interesting way of engaging the audience. The Kevin Costner character was just great, and honestly, he redeemed himself in my eyes as I have not always liked his acting, he really played the "Denny" character well, the chemistry between him and Joan Allen and each one of the daughters was so well expressed through every incident, that you felt as if you were in the room with them. I think this is best a director can do for the audience, making a seamless connection between the characters and audience. The story is of course in of itself, a story many of us experience, the breaking up of family and the consequent issues of that process. no character was bigger than the other, as much as the mom seemed the be the center of the story, really the daughters and the boyfriend made their profound contributions to the story. All in all, I came away feeling good and most importantly having learned a lesson, which for me is what made this movie so so good.
Pretty Good,but cluttered
posted on 31 Aug 2009the Problem with alot of films today is that they often try to be too much to everyone&miss the most important part:making any sense. Kevin Costner does a good job here. this film feels like about 3-4 films that i have seen over the past few years tied together.it gets heavy handed in spots&then shifts into more Humor.sometimes it can't make up it's mind what it wants to be.the story has moments though.