ANGER MANAGEMENT (2003) **1/2 Adam Sandler plays straight man to Jack Nicholson in straight (kind of), traditional (if it's starting a new one) comedic romp about neuroses. Sure, why not? I mean, we all know about Jack taking a golf club to the windshield of one of the many very bad drivers in the metro L.A. area, and you have to figure that he has more than a little bit to say about the title topic. Most of it derisive and funny. Adam must really want to be taken seriously as an actor: I can think of no other reason that he stands aside, doing his lost lambie impersonation, for most of the film as Jack run amokous chaotic psychiatrist riot over the hallowed traditions of Western civilization. How can Adam not want a piece of that? Adam does get into the act a bit during the musical interludes, but (unlike his SNL work with Chris Farley for example) his efforts towards self suppression are almost entirely successful, if ill-advised. So, it all revolves around the demented and iconic genius of Jack: plot, character, and cinematic spirit. Jack's always been able to create supremely humorous moments, even in the most horrifying situations (think The Shining), kind of like Brando, so there's little element of risk in giving him the reins. In execution he just goes off--relieved of having to even pretend that anything serious or suspenseful is going on, he just throws himself wide open to character eviction through the melodrama of post-existential and traumatic character indulgence, right up to the point of, but not into, overdose. Absolutely glorious, and, being Jack, he can't help accidentally knocking over a few profound insights into the psychiatric profession, the court system, romance, and most of the things that interested Freud. Woody Harrelson steals (from Adam) the two scenes that he's in, and Marisa Tomei does that East Coast girl-next-door thing in such a way as to establish and enable the female totemic power, even without many lines. Whoever thought up centering a support group around Luiz Guzman and John Turturro should get an Oscar, or something better. So it's one of Hollywood's all-time heavyweights being light, one of the great comedic geniuses of the day trying not to be funny, and a bunch of serious actors pretending that things aren't silly, with Yankee Stadium icons Derek Jeter, Rudy Giuliani, Bob Sheppard, and Robert Merrill thrown in for substance. Ah, forget the analysis, it's obvious enough when therapy works. I mean, think about the last shots of John McEnroe and Heather Graham, and think outside the artificial limitation of film.
back to Brilliant Observations on 1776 Films home
go back home, or send me email
no more reviews! I want to buy your novel!