The Upside of Anger

Two friends wonder if there might be more between them when their lives both take a left turn in this romantic comedy. Terry (Joan Allen) is a middle-aged housewife and mother of four teenaged daughters and gets the shock of her life when her husband, without a word of warning, leaves them behind, presumably to move to Sweden with his secretary. Going through a bender of depression and alcohol, Terry finds herself commiserating with Denny (Kevin Costner), a former baseball star turned unenthusiastic radio personality who was her husband's colleague and friend and an occasional presence at the house. With both Terry and Denny feeling down in the dumps about recent events in their lives, the two find themselves drawn to one another, and while Terry fights the notion of a new romance, her daughters — Andy (Erika Christensen), Hadley (Alicia Witt), Emily (Keri Russell), and Lavender (Evan Rachel Wood) — each have different ideas about their futures. The Upside of Anger was written and directed by Mike Binder, who also plays a supporting role as the producer of Denny's radio show (AMG)

AMG Review:
Joan Allen harnesses her often cold screen presence to great effect in much of The Upside of Anger. Her alcoholic über-bitch is a force of nature that Allen keeps grounded in real emotions. She is well-matched by Kevin Costner as a low-key rogue full of both selfishness and self-disgust. Their scenes together have a combination of ease and discomfort that could have held together an entire movie. Sadly, director and writer Mike Binder blindsides the audience with a twist ending that undermines everything that came before. Keeping the fact that is revealed at the end from the audience allows Binder to be lazier than he should be with his characters. A better film about a middle-aged woman consumed by anger would figure out how to show that anger simmering below the surface and occasionally boiling over. Binder's facile ending allows him a shortcut that insults the audience's intelligence. With this very game cast, The Upside of Anger could have aimed to be a sardonic Scenes From a Marriage, but Binder is content to settle for something more along the lines of Inside the Mind of the Bitter Married Woman.