The Upside of Anger

B

Not a movie for the morally righteous, The Upside of Anger's protagonists drink like fish, smoke pot, and are very quick to hop in bed regardless of age. Joan Allen, is the mother of four daughters in a well-to-do neighborhood in suburban Detroit (well-to-do suburbs of Detroit and Chicago being the setting of any movie about regular people, just as the West is the setting for movies about cowboys). She has just been left by her husband ("he just took his wallet and left!") and is not coping well, driven to anger and alcohol which her grown and nearly grown daughters deal with surprisingly well. Kevin Costner is a neighbor who hosts a radio show and drinks beer constantly now that his baseball career is over.

The movie follows these characters around for three years until you end up back at the funeral at the opening of the movie. That funeral gives gravity to the often funny drunken outbursts from Allen and Costner's clowning around. Allen has a challenging role as she tries to earn some sympathy from the audience at the same time she makes her situation worse with angry outbursts, drinking, and sometimes unfathomablem criticism of her daughters. She is either hot or cold towards Costner, who hangs in and actually develops more than anyone in the movie.

The acting performances are good. Although Joan Allen has earned a lot of praise, her anger often seems cute when it is supposed to be vitriolic. The movie teeters between being a cute romance and an American Beauty tale of seething anger and (avoidable) tragedy. There are some genuinely funny moments, especially regarding a scummy radio producer (portrayed perfectly by the guy who wrote the movie). The movie is worth watching by grownups who can accept the flaws of the characters without judging them, but the movie is neither a light romance, angst-ridden drama, or family tragedy that it might appear to be. I'll give it a B.

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