The Upside of Anger

Director: Mike Binder
Year Released: 2005
Rating: 0.5

Bi-polar debacle about a woman (Joan Allen) whose husband left her 'for a Swedish secretary' and finds some loving compassion in fellow alcoholic Kevin Costner. Tries to juggle way too many subplots and changes moods entirely too often - Binder wants it to be tragic and funny, but doesn't know how to keep the tone from changing scene by scene, going from lighthearted to depressing within minutes so that by the conclusion, I was nothing but angry. To 'make up' for the fact that he cast himself in a sleazy supporting role, Binder's also given himself the movie's only two amusing moments - one in which his head explodes and one in which he gets the crap knocked out of him by Joan Allen. The performances are decent but nothing overwhelming, and I'm allowing for the fact that the horrible script and clunky dialogue are major problems to work around - I believe New Jersey's own St. Odie Henderson is correct in declaring the ending the absolute worst since M. Night Shyamalan's The Village.