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There's no downside to the witty 'Upside of Anger'

I used to love this weird, brilliant comic strip called The Angriest Dog in the World, written by weird, brilliant filmmaker David Lynch. It was one of those things that was so absurd that it was hilarious, like The Dukes of Hazzard or jello molds.

Every strip had the exact same drawings — a stingray-shaped black dog who, for unexplained reasons, is in an all-consuming doggie rage that incapacitates him to the point that he can't eat, sleep or function in any way. He's oblivious to the inane conversations going on around him. He can't even bite anybody. He's just doomed to a life of rage and bitter growling.

New Line Productions 'Upside of Anger' The verdict: You might even forgive Kevin Costner for 'Waterworld.' 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

Terry Wolfmeyer (Joan Allen), the raging abandoned wife in the weird, almost brilliant The Upside Of Anger, reminds me a little of that abrasive cartoon canine. Apparently a saint before her husband skipped town with his Swedish secretary, Terry immediately gets in touch with her anger, but way more than any therapist would probably suggest.

She becomes a tightly bound spite cocoon, but unlike the dog, whose nastiness doesn't seem to affect anybody else, Terry's bitter buffet is forced on her kids, her neighbors and pretty much anyone within seething distance.

I say that Upside is almost brilliant because writer/director/co-star Mike Binder can't help but throw in a few little cutesy-cute directorisms that I'm sure are supposed to be clever but really .Ê.Ê. aren't. Why in the name of M. Night Shamalyan can't filmmakers just tell a good story without playing "Spot The Bouncing Shockeroo"? It's just distracting and showy.

And in this case, Binder's got a great enough script and cast, especially Allen and my beloved, maligned Kevin Costner. This shockeroo's on me, since just thinking about Binder's sleazy, fake-deep HBO series The Mind of The Married Man, or his equally rank movie The Sex Monster, makes me woozy.

But Binder does have an intriguing premise here — what if one embraces their anger but doesn't let it go in a healthy and Dr. Phil-like manner? What if they grab onto it good and tight, squeeze the mess out of it and eventually stuff it like Trigger and build a shrine to it so it'll never ever die? Is there an upside to anger like that? Or does is it just generate awful for everyone?

Terry's anger certainly isn't fun time for her family. The movie begins and ends on the day of a funeral — we won't find out whose until the end — with the rest of the film following Terry's messy, boozy journey into Bitterland, beginning with the day her husband splits.

Drowning herself in venom and vodka, she takes her snarliness out on her four pretty daughters (Evan Rachel Wood, Alicia Witt, Erika Christensen and Keri Russell — who will always be Felicity to me), and Denny (Costner), a sweet drunken schlub of a retired ball player who spends his days hosting an inane talk show and getting drunk with Terry.

Even though Terry's evolved into the tightly wound Suburbanite of the Apocalypse, Denny's drawn to her, at first out of amused boredom, and then out of a goofy affection that seems to grow even as she snarls.

Their relationship is tricky, ugly but somehow comforting, and since Joan Allen is an acknowledged kick-butt actress well-versed in maligned wives (The Ice Storm, The Crucible), no one's probably surprised how well she gets under Terry's unhappy skin.

Of course, no one's that nasty without some sort of rage building up over time, but Binder never bothers telling us what that might be. She just simmers and blows at various intervals because she hasn't yet found a reason to release it. She's miserable, and she can't help making the rest of her family and Denny miserable as well.

You can see Terry's helplessness and blinding pain all over Allen's face and her thin body. She's basically possessed, and the effects are scary and effective.

As good as Allen is, my boy Costner charms his sloppy way in and makes off with the movie, lazily grinning all the way! I know it's popular to snicker at his self-serious stupid movie phase (Waterworld, The Postman and the deceptively mean "romantic" blah bucket Message in a Bottle.) But when corralled by the right director, like Clint Eastwood in A Perfect World, or Lawrence Kasdan in Silverado or Wyatt Earp, he's really something else.

All the other actors, including Russell as Terry's stressed former dancer daughter, and Binder as Denny's scuzzy radio producer, are great.

Only when Binder gets all deep director man on us does does Upside have a downside.

The Flick Chick's Bottom Line: You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll fall in love with Kevin Costner all over again. And perhaps even forgive him for Waterworld.