Anger Management
Adam Sandler and mindless yelling go together like ramma lamma lamma ka dingedy
ding de dong (as they'd no doubt say in "Grease"). So, in these days
of road rage, air rage and that Slim Shady bloke, he's the obvious choice for
the lead role in any movie centring around the art of losing one's rag.
Slightly less obvious are
the reasons behind the selection of Jack Nicholson as the unorthodox anger management
therapist who steps in to fix Sandler's case of "implosive rage".
Then again, if similarly-respected big-hitters such as Robert DeNiro and Christopher
Walken can humiliate themselves in substandard comic fare such as "Analyze
That" and "Kangaroo Jack", then why not Nicholson?
In fairness, "Anger
Management" is far better than either of those two movies, particularly
in the first half when it provides several laughable sketch situations. Sandler
is Dave Buznik, an average Joe whose temper becomes increasingly tested when
he's wrongfully accused of assaulting an air hostess and, by order of the court,
is taken under the wing of Nicholson's eyebrow-twitching Dr Buddy Rydell.
Before long Buznik's entire
life has been turned upside down by the good doctor's methods which, handily,
involve plenty of opportunity for Sandler to do lots of wrestling about and
shoutinhg. For the early stages it works well and both main players do their
bit impressively enough. Marissa Tomei is also on decent form as Sandler's frustrated
girlfriend, whilst there are cameos a-plenty from the likes of Heather Graham,
John C. Reilly and Woody Harrelson.
Unfortunately, it loses
its way towards the end, becoming increasingly contrived and decreasingly funny.
Despite its early promise, neither the script nor plotline are good enough to
sustain the 100-plus minutes, and things eventually degenerate into standard
Sandler farce. Unfortunately, it's been seen too many times before.
- Starring : Adam Sandler,
Jack Nicholson, Marissa Tomei, John Turturro
- Directed by: Peter Segal
- Label: Columbia
- MPAA Rating: N/A
As Good as It Gets
Directed by: James
L. Brooks
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance
Tagline: Brace yourself for Melvin.
Plot Outline: A single mother/waitress, a misanthropic author, and a
gay artist form an unlikely friendship
Starring:
Jack Nicholson .... Melvin
Udall
Helen Hunt .... Carol Connelly
Greg Kinnear .... Simon Bishop
Cuba Gooding Jr. .... Frank Sachs
Skeet Ulrich .... Vincent Lopiano
Shirley Knight .... Beverly Connelly
Yeardley Smith .... Jackie Simpson
Label : Volcano
