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Anger Management
Dave Buznik is on his flight to work. On the plane, he meets an annoying passenger while also getting horribly misunderstood by a flight attentant who thinks he wants her to give him head instead of a headset. Dave gets told to "calm down" even though they are the one who aren't calm (Boy, how we all can relate to that and he gets hit by a taser and then taken to court for "assaulting" a flight attendant. He gets sent to anger management where funnily enough, the bothersome passenger turns out to be the leader. But is he out to help Dave out or is there something more sinister behind?
Anger Management is a classic example of a frustration comedy. Dave has all these horrible things happening to him, all with them trying to make it out like he is in the wrong instead, and he deserves none of it. Either this is funny or it's just plain painful to sit through. Thanks to the witty screenplay and a talented cast it's in the category of funny.
Let's first talk about Adam Sandler. He can be a bit hit-and-miss. There's the tedious obnoxiousness in That's My Boy, the sleepwalker performance in Pixels (for playing a character so into videogames he couldn’t look more bored) and of course, the infamous Jill in Jack And Jill. I've only seen clips here and there, though even the little footage I've seen of him as Jill already makes my skin crawl.
But if he really puts his mind to it he can deliver. He plays Dave with effectionate sympathy, portraying very well someone who's forced to be patient with a lot of people who don't give him any kind of respect. If you've dealt with a lot of those people, you know what it feels like. Because none of the misfortunes are his fault, you feel so bad for him whenever anything goes wrong. Sandler portrays the repressed anger and ongoing tension so well that when he finally has it and unleashes his rage, it's like a bomb explodes. Sandler rarely uses any of his crazy child voices this time, so the comedy feels much more natural. Just taking Dave as he is, a man under pressure who's pushed to the limit, gives us a likeable grounded persona who's easy to root for.
While Sandler's good though, no one steals the show more than Jack Nicholson. His sly sense of humor shows through more than ever, and plays the character Buddy Rydell with extraordinary sadistic glee. Nicholson relies on his incopiable charm to make Rydell so entertainingly assholish and manipulative that he makes you smile even though you should hate him. All the iconic Nicholsonesque facial expressions are there in full force, and does so much with his material he even makes you chuckle at a cheap fart joke. "You hear that frog?" Buddy is well-written as a character too. Occassionally he does take you by surprise, thinking maybe he maybe isn't so bad after all. Other times you wonder how far he fell down from the god-damn nut tree.
The supporting cast deserves mentions as well. Marisa Tomei as Dave's girlfriend Linda is charming, and has good chemistry with Sandler. There are the colorful personalities in the anger management group, who all get their time to shine throughout. There's the highly underrated Luis Guzman as the on-edge Lou, Jonathan Laughran as Nate, Krista Allen and January Jones as the crazy porno chicks Stacy and Gina... and my favorite of all, John Turturro as the egocentric war veteran Chuck (who at first is Dave's anger partner until that fails and Buddy takes over). Every scene this guy is in he's hilarious. Completely unhinged and unpredictable, he loses his temper at virtually everything and anyone. Turturro plays the character with manic intensity, and out of any in the anger group to get the most screentime he was the most deserving. You can tell the the whole cast is just having a lot of fun, some playing it up but never to the point where it becomes too unbelievable.
Besides those, there's Kurt Fuller as the overly demanding boss Frank Head (who Buddy in one of his teasing provocations calls "Fran"), Woody Harrelson as the lovable prostitute in drag Galaxia, Harry Dean Stanton as the blind man Dave involuntarily provokes (casted at Nicholson's wishes) and John C. Reilly in an excellent cameo as the grown up version of Dave's old bully Arnie Shankman. Hell, you even have John McfreakingEnroe!* In fact, the only forgettable performance is Allen Covert as Andrew, which isn't really his fault since he doesn't get much to do. Andrew is mostly more like an object of irritation Dave gets to deal with inside his head rather than personally.
There are only two issues I have. First off, there's some inconsistency regarding whether Buddy is a highly respected psychologist, or if he's a revered one. Sometimes we hear he's controversial, other times that he's a genius. The script can't seem to decide which stance on him it wants to take. Also, while I don't mind the
With all that being said, the more I think about it the more I like this movie. The laughs are perfectly timed, the acting ranges from decent to great, and looking at the bloopers you realize just how hard it was to perform some of the scenes with a straight face. I mean, the part where Kendra (played by Heather Graham in another memorable small role) tries to bed Dave, all while stuffing herself full with chocolate brownies, I don't think I could manage even after a thousand takes.
Anger Management is a great Adam Sandler vehicle, maybe because it's not only his, but an entire ensemble's. If you have anger problems, maybe this is the best way to soothe it.
Dave Buznik is on his flight to work. On the plane, he meets an annoying passenger while also getting horribly misunderstood by a flight attentant who thinks he wants her to give him head instead of a headset. Dave gets told to "calm down" even though they are the one who aren't calm (Boy, how we all can relate to that and he gets hit by a taser and then taken to court for "assaulting" a flight attendant. He gets sent to anger management where funnily enough, the bothersome passenger turns out to be the leader. But is he out to help Dave out or is there something more sinister behind?
Anger Management is a classic example of a frustration comedy. Dave has all these horrible things happening to him, all with them trying to make it out like he is in the wrong instead, and he deserves none of it. Either this is funny or it's just plain painful to sit through. Thanks to the witty screenplay and a talented cast it's in the category of funny.
Let's first talk about Adam Sandler. He can be a bit hit-and-miss. There's the tedious obnoxiousness in That's My Boy, the sleepwalker performance in Pixels (for playing a character so into videogames he couldn’t look more bored) and of course, the infamous Jill in Jack And Jill. I've only seen clips here and there, though even the little footage I've seen of him as Jill already makes my skin crawl.
But if he really puts his mind to it he can deliver. He plays Dave with effectionate sympathy, portraying very well someone who's forced to be patient with a lot of people who don't give him any kind of respect. If you've dealt with a lot of those people, you know what it feels like. Because none of the misfortunes are his fault, you feel so bad for him whenever anything goes wrong. Sandler portrays the repressed anger and ongoing tension so well that when he finally has it and unleashes his rage, it's like a bomb explodes. Sandler rarely uses any of his crazy child voices this time, so the comedy feels much more natural. Just taking Dave as he is, a man under pressure who's pushed to the limit, gives us a likeable grounded persona who's easy to root for.
While Sandler's good though, no one steals the show more than Jack Nicholson. His sly sense of humor shows through more than ever, and plays the character Buddy Rydell with extraordinary sadistic glee. Nicholson relies on his incopiable charm to make Rydell so entertainingly assholish and manipulative that he makes you smile even though you should hate him. All the iconic Nicholsonesque facial expressions are there in full force, and does so much with his material he even makes you chuckle at a cheap fart joke. "You hear that frog?" Buddy is well-written as a character too. Occassionally he does take you by surprise, thinking maybe he maybe isn't so bad after all. Other times you wonder how far he fell down from the god-damn nut tree.
The supporting cast deserves mentions as well. Marisa Tomei as Dave's girlfriend Linda is charming, and has good chemistry with Sandler. There are the colorful personalities in the anger management group, who all get their time to shine throughout. There's the highly underrated Luis Guzman as the on-edge Lou, Jonathan Laughran as Nate, Krista Allen and January Jones as the crazy porno chicks Stacy and Gina... and my favorite of all, John Turturro as the egocentric war veteran Chuck (who at first is Dave's anger partner until that fails and Buddy takes over). Every scene this guy is in he's hilarious. Completely unhinged and unpredictable, he loses his temper at virtually everything and anyone. Turturro plays the character with manic intensity, and out of any in the anger group to get the most screentime he was the most deserving. You can tell the the whole cast is just having a lot of fun, some playing it up but never to the point where it becomes too unbelievable.
Besides those, there's Kurt Fuller as the overly demanding boss Frank Head (who Buddy in one of his teasing provocations calls "Fran"), Woody Harrelson as the lovable prostitute in drag Galaxia, Harry Dean Stanton as the blind man Dave involuntarily provokes (casted at Nicholson's wishes) and John C. Reilly in an excellent cameo as the grown up version of Dave's old bully Arnie Shankman. Hell, you even have John McfreakingEnroe!* In fact, the only forgettable performance is Allen Covert as Andrew, which isn't really his fault since he doesn't get much to do. Andrew is mostly more like an object of irritation Dave gets to deal with inside his head rather than personally.
There are only two issues I have. First off, there's some inconsistency regarding whether Buddy is a highly respected psychologist, or if he's a revered one. Sometimes we hear he's controversial, other times that he's a genius. The script can't seem to decide which stance on him it wants to take. Also, while I don't mind the
WARNING: spoilers below
football stadium conclusion like some do, maybe because I'm a bit sentimental, I don't think it was neccessary to throw in how the whole thing was set up. It makes no sense at all. There's no way that a judge would agree to waste her time sentencing someone several times just to be part of some weird experiment, plus it seems kind of cruel Linda would want to put Dave through all of this just so he would propose to her. With every other scene I was able to suspend my disbelief, but this is where they really stretched it.
With all that being said, the more I think about it the more I like this movie. The laughs are perfectly timed, the acting ranges from decent to great, and looking at the bloopers you realize just how hard it was to perform some of the scenes with a straight face. I mean, the part where Kendra (played by Heather Graham in another memorable small role) tries to bed Dave, all while stuffing herself full with chocolate brownies, I don't think I could manage even after a thousand takes.
Anger Management is a great Adam Sandler vehicle, maybe because it's not only his, but an entire ensemble's. If you have anger problems, maybe this is the best way to soothe it.