DVD
Review | Anger Management
Written by: Kage
Alan
Like many people, I wanted to see this film
because of Jack Nicholson. Adam Sandler may be funny (at times and in
some of his films), but he can’t hold a candle to Nicholson. Even so,
seeing the two of them paired together with a concept along the lines
of anger management, how could audiences resist? I certainly
couldn’t. I mean, the last time Jack made a questionable film was
back in 1992 with “Man Trouble”. Anyway, I went into this fully
expecting to love it!
Dave Buznik (Sandler, “Happy Gilmore”) is one of
the meekest softest speaking people who won’t make a scene or rock the
boat kind of guy you’ll ever meet. He reminds me EXACTLY like my old
roommate. Anyway, Dave should have a promotion, should be proposing to
his girlfriend, Linda (Marisa Tomei, “What Women Want”), should be
comfortable with public displays of affection and should be sticking up
for himself more than he does. There are lots of “should haves”, but
little action no his part. When a very unusual occurrence on an
airplane with a crabby flight attendant (he must have flown Northwest)
gets blown out of proportion, it lands him in anger management classes
with unorthodox instructor Dr. Buddy Rydell (Nicholson, “About
Schmidt”).
A second incident finds Dave facing a jail sentence
if drastic measures aren’t taken. They are. Buddy moves in, assumes
control over Dave’s life, relationship with Linda, his job and every
other mundane things that occur daily in life. Home invasion has never
felt so…well, invading. Throw in additional wacky members in Buddy’s
class, a road trip, coming to terms with an old grade school bully as
well as society, winning back his girlfriend and learning what anger is
healthy and what isn’t and Dave is going to have his hands full.
“Anger Management” had the potential to really make
fun of society’s paranoia about rage and anger in its many forms. It
also had the potential to let Sandler and Nicholson cut loose and run
with the material. That’s what I was expecting. Unfortunately, at 106
minutes, the film trudges along from one unfunny situation to another
while rarely taking advantage of the comedic talent at the filmmaker’s
disposal. There are a few sparks of brilliance here and there and
that’s what made all the difference in the world to me, but just when it
feels like the movie has found a pulse, it flatlines.
Sony has released “Anger Management” in a very
solid looking Widescreen transfer. Colors are good and the audio is
problem free, so I have no complaints about those. As for extras, we
have several. First up is an audio commentary with Director Peter Segal
and Adam Sandler. The two are a little too self-congratulatory for my
taste, but I’ve heard worse. Next up is “Do You Have Anger Problems?”
in which viewers are asked questions and have to choose the correct
answer. It’s kind of silly, actually. There are 4 deleted scenes, 2
featurettes (the 18min “Skull Session” and 4min “My Buddy, Jack”) with
interviews with cast and crew, a min less-than-thrilling 5 ½min “Gag
Reel” and then some trailers.
No, I wasn’t expecting “Happy Gilmore” here or even
“The Wedding Singer”, but I was hoping for a little more comedy from
screenwriter David Dorfman. As a whole, “Anger Management” is okay, but
nothing extraordinary. Fans of Sandler will be pleased to see him
repeating some of the same quirks that he has in previous films while
fans of Nicholson will wonder what the heck he was doing in a film with
underdeveloped material like this.
Film Rating:
C
DVD Special Features: C+
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