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The Upside of Anger
USA/Ger/UK 2005
Starring : Joan Allen, Kevin Costner
Director : Mike Binder
UK release 5th May 2007
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SUBURBAN family (melo-)drama The Upside of Anger was shot back in 2004, premiered at Sundance film-festival in January '05, came out in the States in April of that year - and has since then been gathering dust awaiting UK release. Not that it's likely to last very long in our crowded multiplexes: the film has the feel of an extended pilot for an up-market soap-opera, and will undoubtedly

 soon find its natural home on the small screen via DVD.  Having appeared with Allen in 2001's The Contender, Binder wrote the screenplay very much with the esteemed actress in mind, his intention being to create a meaty role for the star: and, strictly on those terms, The Upside of Anger can be reckoned a success.

Terry Wolfmeyer (Allen) is a well-heeled, middle-aged, still-attractive Detroit housewife who's hit the bottle following the abrupt departure of her businessman husband - the latter having apparently run off with his Swedish secretary. Not that Terry is alone or idle - she has four daughters to cope with: one a teenager (Evan Rachel Wood), the remainder all roughly of 'college age' (Erika Christensen, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt). Providing further distraction is easygoing neighbour Denny (Costner), a former baseball-star who, like Terry, finds solace in alcohol. The pair seem to be drifting towards a sexual relationship - but with Terry, who sets sky-high standards for herself and everyone else, nothing is straightforward...

While the script's novelistic twists and turns are negotiated quite nimbly by the ensemble cast, even these performers can't do much to make the big climactic revelation seem either comprehensible or plausible. Up to this point, Allen and Costner make for a watchable, pleasingly unconventional big-screen 'couple', the pair's efforts compensating for Binder's uninspired direction (for one thing, he's much too reliant on a gratingly intrusive score by the usually-solid Alexandre Desplat.) But an even bigger problem is that we've seen this kind of stuff too many times before in recent years - and nagging reminders of the likes of The Ice Storm and American Beauty certainly don't work to Binder's advantage here.

Neil Young
23rd April, 2007

written for Tribune magazine




THE UPSIDE OF ANGER :  [5/10] : USA (US/UK) 2005 : Mike BINDER : 117 mins (BBFC timing) : seen at Empire cinema, Bromsgrove (UK), 5th October 2006 - press show (CinemaDays event)