Anger Management

4/13/03 - Review

Adam Sandler is David Buznik, an everyday run of the mill guy who ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time.  He has been everyone’s person to pick on his whole life as he has been bullied around since he was child.  David tries to avoid confrontation but in the end bad things happen.

As he travels across country on a business trip, there is an altercation with a flight attendant and David gets tasered by an undercover officer.  The flight attendant ends up pressing assault charges on Dave.  The judge sentences Dave for $3500 dollars and 20 hours of anger management with renowned therapist Dr. Buddy Rydell, played by Jack Nicholson.  Rydell senses that David is the type of person that bottles up his anger until one day “he will kill everybody.”  After a restaurant incident where David accidentally breaks the nose of a waitress, he finds himself back in court where he must spend 30 days with Dr. Rydell or he will spend the next year in jail.

David hates Buddy from the first minute that he steps into David’s house.  Their personalities clash as Rydell’s off the wall treatments bring all the anger out of Buznik.  Rydell’s loud outbursts and a weird sense of “control” have Buznik question who should be in the therapy.  Rydell involves himself in all aspects of Buznik’s life including his work and his girlfriend, Linda, played by Marisa Tomei.  Buznik and Rydell are at each others throats the rest of the movie has he tries to cure Dave.  But, you have to wonder, will they kill each other first? 

Anger Management is a refreshingly great comedy.  Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler are the best on screen duo I have seen since Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels laughed it up in Dumb and Dumber.  It is also the best intelligent comedy since last years Analyze That.  Couple the performances by Sandler and Nicholson with the terrific script and you have a movie that anyone will enjoy, except my younger brother.

Adam Sandler shows in this movie that he can actually act instead of playing his usual goofball roles.  He plays a straight, mild-mannered man who can blow up at any time.  It seems that Adam Sandler movies all have the same theme.  This one is different, thank God.  It was good to see him show the range of his skills instead of the usual “feel good” roles.  You would think that he could only do a goofball role, which makes this performance a pleasure to watch.  Most of the time he tries to be a calm bystander but somehow or other he gets thrown into the mix which causes his internal anger to come gushing out.

And who to bring this anger out of Sandler then none other than Jack Nicholson.  There is no denying the fact that Nicholson is one of the premiere actors of our time.  His comedic style gets Sandler into trouble more often than one would think.  But it is all for the cause of curing Sandler’s anger problem.  Jack Nicholson plays this therapist beautifully, much like Bill Crystal did in the Analyze movies.  He is very convincing but the way he treats Sandler is where he gets the kudos. 

Marisa Tomei did not have that much screen time but she only needed to be there to look hot, and she did.  The rest of the staff was good, featuring some well known actors such as Woody Harrelson, John Turturro, and Kevin Nealon.  Surprisingly, I did not see Ron Schneider. 

The story is very fluid and very entertaining.  I was laughing my ass off about every minute for the whole movie.  I was smiling with anticipation because I could not wait to see what would happen next.  This is a great story about a simple man whose life is turned upside down by this anger management therapist.  That sentence should say it all.  Teaming up Sandler and Nicholson was the best thing that could ever happen to this movie.  I cannot see anyone else pulling it off any better. 

I highly recommend this movie if you are looking for a good laugh.  You will definitely not be disappointed with this one.  The only disappointment I had with this movie is that I waited until Sunday to finally see it.  I can’t wait to see it again when it comes out on DVD. 

Grade

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