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Adam Sandler plays a man wrongly sentenced to a series of anger management courses. His instructor, played by Jack Nicholson, antagonizes him with his unorthodox teachings, which include moving in with Sandler and flirting with his girlfriend (Marisa Tomei). The courses end up teaching Sandler’s character that he keeps too much inside and lets people walk all over him. Ironically, anger management teaches his character to become angry — to stand up for himself.
David Dorfman’s screenplay for Anger Management is a tortured example of a plot that tramples its characters, bending them to its every whim. The third act climax is a sentimental baseball stadium scene that made me want to barf. But on the bright side, I must say this is the most tolerable Adam Sandler has ever been. He’s not just putting on accents and acting like a child here. He’s playing an adult character. And more importantly, he’s reacting to things instead of being the thing everyone else reacts to. He’s acting for a change. He’s the best part of his own movie. And Jack Nicholson’s no chopped liver, either. While it’s not the kind of role Jack will be remembered for, his presence is the kind of playfully devilish one we’ve all come to know and love. Tomei, unfortunately, is hostage to the plot and barely makes an impression. Among the supporting players, John Turturro is the most memorable, as one of the anger management students who becomes Sandler’s ‘anger sponsor’.
History may not be so kind to this movie. It was shot in New York City in the aftermath of 9/11, when we all thought now-disgraced Rudy Giuliani was ‘America’s Mayor’, so he gets a pivotal cameo appearance. The film also features some gay/trans characters whose sole purposes are to be the butt of jokes. I love the actors and don’t blame them for it — it was simply another time when things like this were more socially acceptable.
Directed by Peter Segal. With Allen Covert, Lynne Thigpen, Luis Guzman, Kurt Fuller, January Jones, Woody Harrelson, Heather Graham, and Kevin Nealon.