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The Upside of Anger
"Anger has turned my mother into a very sad and bitter woman. If she wasn't my mother, I'd slap her. I really would." The wry yet painfully honest opening words of disgruntled teenager Popeye Wolfmeyer (Rachel Evan Wood) welcome us into the suburban hell of writer-director Mike Binder's beautifully observed portrait of a family in crisis. Released in America more than two years ago, it seemed as if The Upside Of Anger might never see the light of day on this side of the Atlantic. That would have been a shame because Binder's film melds bravura performances with elegant and perceptive writing to create a humorous and often moving love story about everyday people wrestling with self-loathing and the urge to completely self-destruct. Joan Allen delivers another scintillating turn as a mother seeking answers in the bottom of a vodka bottle but it's Kevin Costner who perhaps impresses most, reminding us of his abilities to get beneath the skin of the dysfunctional all-American hero. Suburban mom Terry Wolfmeyer (Allen) reacts to the disappearance of her husband Grey (Danny Webb) by drowning her sorrows in countless glasses of liquor. Failing to connect with her four daughters - Andy (Erika Christensen), Emily (Keri Russell), Hadley (Alicia Witt) and Popeye - Terry finds an unlikely confidant and drinking partner in her neighbour, one-time star baseball pitcher turned radio show host Denny Davies (Kevin Costner). In their alcohol-fuelled haze, the lonely singletons try to put their cluttered lives in order before they, like their liquor, are on the rocks. Denny helps Andy to find a job at the radio station, to the delight of his sleazy, skirt-chasing producer (Binder himself) and offers Terry his expert opinion on a broken heart. "It heals - it just heals funny," he says knowingly. Meanwhile, Emily looks set to follow her heart down the aisle with the man of her dreams and Popeye develops a crush on classmate Gordon (Dane Christensen), eventually plucking up the courage to kiss him. Unfortunately, he doesn't react with smoldering desire. "I'm gay," Gordon tells Popeye. "No you're not," she replies defiantly. "I like men, because I'm gay," he re-iterates. "Have sex with me," she counters, "Just try it and then, if you want to be gay, you can be gay." When the truth about Terry's husband is finally revealed, the Wolfmeyer clan is finally able to heal its wounds and look forward to a brighter future. The Upside Of Anger is a treat, written with great affection for the family members, trapped in a cycle of misery of their own creation. The ensemble cast relishes the choice dialogue of their colourful and eccentric supporting characters, allowing us to glimpse their pain beneath the armour of their dry wit and acidic one-liners. Allen is in imperious form - "I need a Bloody Mary as soon as it's humanly possible," she informs a beleaguered waiter at a posh eaterie - catalyzing a sweet on screen chemistry with Costner, including a memorable bedroom scene that proves sex in the movies isn't always softly lit and neatly choreographed. By the end, Popeye might just concede, through gritted teeth, that while she would dearly like to slap her mother, she'd hug her too.
