accessAtlanta

'The Upside of Anger': A bad title for a good movie

Whoever came up with the awkward and unappetizing title "The Upside of Anger" should be whupped upside the head, as we say in the South.

But I guess they couldn't very well call it "Terms of Endearment Lite," which is what it resembles. This excellently acted, character-driven film isn't as complex or as emotionally rich as James L. Brooks' 1983 Oscar winner. Still, there are similarities: a smart single woman with a mind of her own, a daughter (in this case, plural) with whom she has a troubled but loving relationship, and finally, a paunchy womanizing former jock-star just down the street (Kevin Costner's retired baseball hero subs for Jack Nicholson's retired astronaut).

New Line Productions 'Upside of Anger' B The verdict: Unrelenting look at what happens when a midlife slump collides with a midlife crisis. Director: Mike Binder Starring: Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Erika Christensen and Keri Russell Run time: 116 minutes Release date: March 18, 2005 Rating: PG for language, sexual situations, brief comic violence and some drug use See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer   -- Trailers require Quicktime Rate "The Upside of Anger"   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

The incomparable Joan Allen stars as Terry Wolfmeyer, a wife and mother of four daughters, living together in an affluent Detroit suburb. The only thing missing from this idyllic picture is Mr. Wolfmeyer. He's disappeared, presumably with his Swedish secretary.

And Terry is mad as hell.

And definitely not in the mood to chat with her neighbor, Denny Davies (Costner), when he ambles up, tallboy in hand, looking for a drinking buddy. Since Terry is on the Grey Goose Diet, i.e., vodka for breakfast, lunch and dinner, he's come to the right place.

Over her snappish protests, he settles onto her couch and, eventually, into her life — as friend, lover and sometime surrogate father to her girls, played by Keri Russell, Alicia Witt, Erika Christensen and Evan Rachel Wood.

Unfortunately, instead of focusing on the Terry-Denny relationship — which offers a plethora of adult matters rarely explored on film — it takes off on little Lifetime Channel mini-plots. One for each daughter. It also doesn't help that the movie begins three years later, at a funeral, so you watch these plot-lettes wondering who's going to end up six feet under.

Writer-director Mike Binder (HBO's "The Mind of the Married Man") has written himself a gem of a part as well. He plays Shep, a disheveled, middle-aged lech with a thing for girls half his age. Shep produces Denny's radio show, where the former baseball great manages to talk about everything but baseball.

Binder's script has a bright verbal buzz. Characters either say funny things or they say things funnily. Like Shep explaining why he likes young girls: "They say, 'Oh, look! A steak!'" Or when one of the daughters catches Denny chuckling and wants to know what's so funny. "Oh, nothing," he says. "You're just all very female."

Where has this Costner been while some pompous Costner-imposter has been starring in miserable, overblown junk like "Waterworld" and "The Postman" and "3000 Miles to Graceland"? His Denny is charming, low-key and self-deprecating, relaxed and a little rascally. He's the fantasy male for every high-maintenance woman looking for a relationship. But he can get mad, too, as he does one night when Terry shoots him one bit of sneering sarcasm too many and, kicking down a door, he explodes, "I am sick of being your bitch."

Costner's performance reminds us what made him such an appealing actor in the first place, and he could be a contender for best supporting actor. After all, Nicholson won an Oscar for his version of this part.

Still, Allen is pretty much the show. Nobody does brittle and withering better than she does. Terry's rage is fierce and unforgiving. Her anger becomes her identity and threatens to ruin every relationship she has.

But there's more to Allen's work here than 18 variations on a mad white woman. She has moments of exquisite tenderness and worn-down grief. She even evinces an unexpected streak of mordant humor.

Allen and Costner keep the film on track when it threatens to wander off into melodrama or stumble over its tonal inconsistencies. Thanks to them, "The Upside of Anger" is a smart, funny, yet, at the same time, unrelenting look at what happens when a midlife slump collides with a midlife crisis.