DVD Review

The Upside of Anger (2005)

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MAD ABOUT YOU 'Anger' brings out the best in Allen (with Costner)

Credits

Rated: R; DVD Release Date: Jul 26, 2005; Genre: Drama; With: Joan Allen and Kevin Costner; Distributor: New Line Cinema

By Mandi Bierly

As a desperate housewife whose husband has supposedly skipped town with his secretary, Joan Allen finds comfort in booze, the bed of her lost-soul neighbor (Kevin Costner), and countless fights with her four distant daughters (Erika Christensen, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt, Evan Rachel Wood). That her performance in The Upside of Anger is flawless comes as no surprise. That ending, however...

EXTRAS Like the film, they run deep and light. The making-of spells out the familiar moral — letting anger consume you is a waste of time — but also expounds on the exploding-head-at-the-dinner-table scene. Deleted footage showcases Allen in a murderous dream sequence and Costner's character toking up with a wedding band (the actor's idea, incidentally). The commentary by Allen, writer-director Mike Binder, and guest moderator Rod Lurie (The Contender) talks up casting Bull Durham vet Costner as yet another baseball player: The poster his former Detroit Tiger autographs in Anger is actually a shot of the actor from the 1999 flick For Love of the Game.

Posted Jul 22, 2005

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