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It’s life, as we all know, and writer/director Mike
Binder seems to have a good grasp on its tumultuous cycle.
The correlation of having to experience rock bottom before
finding your stride again might also be applied to this film’s
co-star. Kevin Costner hasn’t had a fantastic decade,
seems the over-bloated over-budgeted overwrought Waterworld
(1995) swept his career away in a current and he’s never
quite recovered.
And while some make their comeback by starring in some testing,
ambitious or, in the case of George Lucas (with his “Star
Wars” prequel trilogy), encumbered with special effects,
Costner’s done the opposite: he’s made something
so small and so intimate, that he’s got no choice but
to make sure his acting is finely tuned, because it’s
what people are coming to see.
In this, there’s no eye-patched villain, no super stunts,
no awe-inspiring running of the buffalo sequences and no costume
department to pad up the meagre performances of its cast –
The Upside of Anger is a ‘story’, and purely
that.
Costner plays the supporting role – yes, you read right,
supporting role (he’s obviously had an ego transplant
somewhere between this and his last floperoo) – of a
retired baseball star wooing the newly widowed mother next
door.
His character, Denny Davies, is grey-haired, balding, pot-bellied,
bristly and usually with brewskie in hand.
And you know what? The Oscar Winner is the best he has been
in years – he’s real, he’s likeable, he’s
memorable. Everything his last ten years of characters weren’t.
To Costner’s merit, he might have needed to be a bit
older to play this part, so he had to wait a few years before
he could wear the trousers of such a character. Like Jack
Nicholson’s unexpectedly effective role of the portly
but charismatic neighbour in Terms of Endearment (1982),
Costner eats up the part, and will incontrovertibly win all
those fans back he’s lost since swimming in dudsville.
Terry Wolfmeyer’s (Joan Allen) husband of twenty years
has just left her. Seeking solace in drinking, she struggles
to keep it together whilst raising four young daughters -
Andy (Alicia Witt), Emily (Keri Russell), Hadley (Erika Christensen),
and the youngest, Popeye (Evan Rachel Wood), who all ageing
quicker than a bottle of milk in the sun.
When neighbour Denny (Costner) - now working as a radio announcer
but spending most of his days guzzling beer - starts popping
around to share a drink with the frazzled Terry, everyone’s
life starts to take a radical, but welcome, turn.
Though Allen and her ‘girls’ are super-solid in
their respective roles (as is writer/director Mike Binder
as a middle-aged radio producer with a penchant for young
ladies), The Upside of Anger is Costner’s movie.
He brings the perfect equilibrium of emotion and creditability
to the celebrity baseball player turned dishevelled drunk.
The character is a treasure; so lonely that he actually enjoys
hanging around at Terry’s, even when she’s battling
with her daughters, and he forms a connection with everyone
on screen, and everyone off. Even when the film begins to
swim uneasily between genres – it does take a dark turn
towards the end – he’s still as solid as an anvil.
An incredibly real, unbelievably candid, and ultimately touching
film, The Upside of Anger is a welcome surprise for
both Costner fans, and an even finer treat for those yearning
for a return to films with a solid story, and not much more.
DVD Extras
The DVD includes a round-table chit chat with the cast plus
interviews with the headline acts. The lack of a commentary
is disappointing, and where are the deleted scenes, the blooper
reel and the easter eggs?
Conclusion: Movie 75% Extras: 50%
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