The Upside of Anger

Director: Mike Binder Mike Binder

Overview

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.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/26/2005
UPC:	0794043825927
Original Release:	2004
Rating:	R
Source:	New Line Home Video
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound, Dolby Digital Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:57:00

Special Features

Closed Caption; 8 deleted scenes; "Creating the Upside of Anger Featurette"; Commentary with Joan Allen and director Mike Binder; And more!

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Joan Allen	Terry Wolfmeyer
Kevin Costner	Denny Davies
Erika Christensen	Andy Wolfmeyer,Gorden Reiner
Evan Rachel Wood	Lavender `Popeye' Wolfmeyer
Keri Russell	Emily Wolfmeyer
Alicia Witt	Hadley Wolfmeyer
Mike Binder	Adam `Shep' Goodman
Tom Harper	David Junior
Danny Webb	Grey Wolfmeyer,Grey Wolfmeyer
Magdalena Manville	Darlene
Suzanne Bertish	Gina
David Firth	David Senior
Rod Woodruff	Dean Reiner
Stephen Greif	Emily's Doctor
Roderick P. Woodruff	Dean Reiner
Arthur Penhallow	DJ Arhur P.
Richard Mylan	Disc Jockey
Robert Perkins	Town Car Man
William Tapley	Doctor Lewis
Owen Oakshot	Builder Foreman
Bella Sabbagh	Radio Station Receptionist
Michelle Denholm	English National Ballet School
Natalie Domanski	English National Ballet School
Sophie Gorrod	English National Ballet School
Carolyn Logan	English National Ballet School
Alison McWhinney	English National Ballet School
Natasha O'Brien	English National Ballet School
Stina Quagebeur	English National Ballet School
Olivia Ratcliffe	English National Ballet School
Laura Suttle	English National Ballet School
Nicola Wallis	English National Ballet School
Miki Weatherford	English National Ballet School
Nao Yamazato	English National Ballet School
Gavin Munn	The Gavin Munn Band/Wedding Band
Nicholas White	The Gavin Munn Band/Wedding Band
Peter Hajioff	The Gavin Munn Band/Wedding Band
Chris Banks	The Gavin Munn Band/Wedding Band
Roger Batting	The Gavin Munn Band/Wedding Band
Alexandre Desplat	Conductor,Composer

Technical Credits

Mike Binder

Mike Binder	Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Mark Damon	Executive Producer
Andreas Grosch	Executive Producer
Stewart Hall	Executive Producer
Andreas Schmid	Executive Producer
Sammy Lee	Producer
Danielle Rohe	Casting
Alex Gartner	Producer
Danielle Roffe	Casting
Brian Simmons	Sound/Sound Designer
Matthew Desorgher	Sound/Sound Designer
John Rodda	Sound Mixer

Scene Index

Side #1 --
1. The Funeral [2:14]
2. Bad News [4:58]
3. The Wolfmeyer Women [4:50]
4. Drinking Buddies [6:53]
5. "I'm a Wreck" [7:44]
6. The Offer [6:29]
7. Halley's Comet [9:54]
8. Shocking News [1:01]
9. Terry's Embarrassment [2:45]
10. Shep Joins the Party [6:32]
11. The Apology [5:44]
12. Hadley's Wedding [5:47]
13. More Bad News [10:08]
14. The Big Question [6:55]
15. A Moment of Bliss [6:07]
16. The Make-Up [6:14]
17. The Discovery [9:14]
18. End Credits [8:41]

Menu

Side #1 --
   Play Movie
   Special Features
      Deleted Scenes
         Play All Without Commentary
         Play All With Commentary
         Sisters at Wake
         Denny Smoking With the Band
         Twins Born
         Ballet Outburst
         Wedding Dress Shopping
         Hadley and Terry Backyard
         2nd Radio Station
         Dream Sequence
      Feature Commentary With Director Mike Binder and Joan Allen Moderated by Filmmaker Rod Lurie
      Creating the Upside of Anger
      Theatrical Trailer
      More From New Line
   Set Up Screen & Sound Options
      Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
      DTS Surround Sound
      Stereo Surrond Sound
      Subtitles: English
      Subtitles: Spanish
      Subtitles: Off
      New Line Logo
   Select a Scene
   DVD-ROM Online Features

Editorial Reviews

Generally well received by critics and almost universally praised for the quality of its acting, The Upside of Anger certainly merits a larger audience on DVD than it drew in theaters, where it was a box office disappointment. Certainly Joan Allen is Oscar-worthy for her brilliant, impassioned performance as Terry Wolfmeyer, a middle-aged housewife and mother stung by the abrupt departure of her husband, presumed to have run off with his much younger secretary. With three daughters (Erika Christensen, Keri Russell, Evan Rachel Wood) still at home and one (Alicia Witt) in college, Terry shrugs off her responsibilities and drowns her sorrows in booze. Bitter, lonely, and more than a little desperate, she eventually turns to her neighbor and drinking buddy, Denny Davies (Kevin Costner), a former star pitcher reduced to doing a talk show on local radio. Denny’s no slouch at shrugging off responsibility himself, but his affection for Terry and her daughters makes a new man of him. Costner has taken quite a beating from critics over the last few years, and he’s been in more than his fair share of turkeys. But Upside gives him a multidimensional character in which to sink his teeth, and he devours it with gusto. Costner’s performance has “comeback” written all over it and deserves as much praise as Allen’s. Much of the credit for this belongs to writer-director Mike Binder (HBO's The Mind of the Married Man), whose tart dialogue and handling of emotionally complex situations invariably rings true. Remarkably forthright about loss, betrayal, and new beginnings, Upside also approaches sexuality with a maturity not often seen in Hollywood movies. The characters in this movie will strike you as real people, and it’ll be a rare viewer who doesn’t spot at least one character that resembles someone he or she knows. At various points tragic, comic, sublime, and ridiculous, The Upside of Anger is very much like life itself.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

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.

All Movie Guide - Perry Seibert