The Upside of Anger

Released 2005
Stars Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt, Mike Binder
Directed by Mike Binder

Now that Kevin Costner has grown too old to convincingly play a baseball star (even an aging Major Leaguer, as in For Love of the Game), he has progressed logically. In The Upside of Anger, he portrays an ex-Detroit Tiger whose life has deteriorated the further age has taken him from the diamond. It's an effective performance, but only a supporting one. The Upside of Anger belongs to Joan Allen (for whom director/screenwriter Mike Binder developed the project), and there's no way Costner or any of Allen's younger co-stars is going to steal even the most minor scene from her.

When the film opens, Terry Wolfmeyer (Allen) has been devastated. Her husband, Gray, has vanished without a trace, presumably running off to Europe with his secretary. Terry is left to care for four teenage daughters, all of whom are exhibiting different degrees of rebelliousness. Hadley (Alicia Witt), the college student, treats her mother with disdain and can't wait for her school break to be over so she can escape from her family. Andy (Erika Christensen) has decided that college isn't for her; she gets a job as a production assistant at a local radio station and embarks upon an affair with her sleazy boss, Shep (Mike Binder). Emily (Keri Russell) wants to be a professional dancer, and refuses to go to a traditional university. And Popeye (Evan Rachel Wood) is experimenting with drugs and wants nothing more than to have a boyfriend. Into this tumultuous five-woman household comes Denny Davies (Costner), an ex-baseball player turned radio talk show host with a "thing" for Terry. Despite his alcoholism, he turns out to be a stabilizing influence on the Wolfmeyer household - to a point.

Summary by James Berardinelli

This is a nice chick flick. It pretty successfully avoids the maudlin traps associated with the genre, and it even handled the hospital episode well. I liked the relationship between Allen's and Costner's characters, but the movie felt too scripted to me. Each of the girls was given their rebellious trait in a way that made the movie feel like a play, and those little subplots interfered with the main relationship, which I thought was interesting. I have to mention the ending that caused some controversy. It really came out of the blue, and it changed the entire premise of Terry's relationship with Denny. It was one of those little surprise endings that wasn't necessary, but I actually thought it was a nice little twist. --Bill Alward, August 24, 2005