The Upside of Anger
is cooked with love.
Anger is a fast-food emotion-small portions every now and then won't hurt, but large doses taken every day lead to all sorts of nasty problems. Writer/director/actor
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Mike Binder's (
The Search for John Gissing
) new film, the story of a woman
whose Happy Meal is thrown out and replaced with a super-sized helping of red-hot rage, shows the harmful effects a steady diet of anger has on an individual and an entire family.
Terri Wolfmeyer's (Joan Allen) youngest daughter (
Thirteen
's Evan Rachel Wood), nicknamed Popeye, explains in narration that her mother was once the sweetest person in the world, but when her husband runs off with his Swedish secretary, Terri finds herself drunk and lashing out at her four daughters and their neighbor, ex-baseball great Denny Davies (Kevin Costner).
Denny earns a living signing autographs at mall openings and talking about anything but baseball on a radio call-in show. After the exit of the husband, Denny shows up at the Wolfmeyer residence more and more, tapping at the window like Dennis the Menace with a beer in his hand and sunglasses on to hide his bloodshot eyes. Terri and Denny begin a relationship that involves getting drunk and watching the invasion of Iraq on cable news.
Allen handles the role perhaps as no other actress would, with a mix of dignity and restraint. Her rage is never more than just below the surface and is vented through frequent outbursts and the occasional blowing of her top. Allen never throws a fit, however,
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maintaining careful control over performance by conveying much of her character's anger through her most angry organs-her eyes.
In Denny, Costner seems to have found the role of a lifetime, delivering a measured performance that, like his leading lady, never crosses the line and stays well within the boundaries of likability. Costner and Allen share the comic relief, allowing Denny to become a real character rather than remain a drunken clown with a garage full of unsigned baseballs.
Binder walks a fine line between cliché and sincerity during the film's final moments but, like his leading actors, manages to redeem himself with wit and skill. In many ways, current release
Imaginary Heroes
is a circus mirror version of this film. Both are family dramas seen through the eyes of teenagers and both find humor in the dark parts of life, but where
Heroes
director Dan Harris' treatment of drama was more fast food-quick and easy-Binder has delivered a home-cooked meal.
