The Upside of Anger: Movie & DVD Review (2005)

(Originally published 2005)

Mike Binder's dramedy “The Upside of Anger” stars Joan Allen as Terry Wolfmeyer, a disillusioned, middle-aged woman slapped with the unexpected ugliness of having to face herself, her life and her presumed lack of prospects when her husband dumps her for that old cliché, his younger secretary.

As far as Terry knows, her husband has skipped off to Switzerland, neatly abandoning her and their four daughters without explanation or word of his departure. He just vanishes and that, understandably, has made Terry furious.

Consumed by betrayal, bewilderment and rage--mostly rage--she doesn’t turn to her family for solace or insight. Instead, she goes straight for those other clichés--sarcasm, bitterness and the bottle, savoring the sort of vodka-soaked bender that would lay waste to even the heartiest of drunks.

The film, which Binder based on his own script, is a tour-de-force for Allen, whose cutting, sometimes cruelly funny performance lifts an otherwise rote story way out of the ordinary.

For Terry’s rage, Binder offers up several sacrificial lambs, beginning with her daughters (Alicia Witt, Erika Christensen, Keri Russel, Evan Rachel Wood), all of whom behold what their mother has become--hostile, leering, soused by 8 a.m.--with the sort of wariness that borders on bemusement and repulsion.

Also in the mix is Terry’s neighbor Denny (Kevin Costner), a famous, once-great baseball star whose retirement from the game has been spent drinking too much beer and slumming daily through a radio talk show he’d like to quit.

Denny is an alcoholic, single and not loving it, and so, when he hears that Terry’s husband has ditched her, he naturally decides to pursue a relationship with her. She is, after all, rather sexy and smart when she’s not half in the bag. Perhaps he has the goods to save her, maybe even himself.

Good luck to Denny.

Dysfunction is a bull that runs rampant through “The Upside of Anger,” but considering the circumstances at hand, that sounds about right, doesn’t it? It’s certainly what gives the movie energy.

Emotionally, the film is riddled with neuroses--it’s a tragedy, a comedy, a drama, and in one hilarious scene, the most spectacular of horror shows. And yet the movie, in spite of its soapy underpinnings and a disappointing final twist, doesn’t implode. You’re never bored watching it, which is a testament to the cast, to the sharp dialogue and to Binder himself, who turns up as a sleazy radio show producer who beds one of Terry’s far younger daughters--and nearly steals the show.

Grade: B+