By Claude Mills, Staff Reporter
Jack Nicholson, left, and Adam Sandler star in Anger Management', which is now showing at the Palace Amusement theatres. - Contributed
THERE ARE more than a few obnoxious people who need to see the movie opening today, Anger Management, because it speaks to the repressed bubble of psychopathology stewing underneath the surface of your average, everyday Jamaican.
The running joke of this film, Anger Management, was to take the last guy in the world you'd ever think would ever need anger management therapy and pair him with a therapist who drives him crazy.
On premise alone, this performance-driven movie is almost a gem, but parts of its execution are a bit poor, and the plot strays all over the place, often descending into 'ca ca humour' and infantile jokes.
Then again, 'hah-hah', it's a Sandler movie: what did ya expect?
I must admit I liked some of the 'boy this guy's got a big package' jokes, but the big-fat-pussycat-in-the-sweater humour was deeply unfunny. If you saw the Lakers game on Saturday, you will understand that Nicholson is playing himself in this movie - an eyeglasses-wearing, fist-waving, trash-talking, mildly neurotic, slightly anal, Brillo-beard-wearing man. After all, this is a man who once took a golf club to a man's windshield, so he brings a dark legitimacy to the role, playing it with a smirking confidence that will unsettle as well as amuse you.
OK here's the plot. After a misunderstanding aboard an airplane that quickly escalates out of control, the mild-mannered, repressed low-level ad exec Dave Buznik (Adam Sandler) is ordered by Judge Daniels (Lynne Thigpen) to attend anger management sessions run by Doctor Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson), which are filled with highly eccentric and volatile men and women.
COMIC MAYHEM
After his initial class, Buddy pairs Sandler with the explosive Chuck (John Torturro), and comic mayhem ensues. Another trip to the courts is in the offing, and this time, the judge suspends a one-year sentence for Dave in the penitentiary only if he is willing to let Buddy move in to treat him and help him conquer his personal demons.
What happens next is a comic roller coaster ride of epic proportions.
Buddy's unorthodox approach to therapy is both abrasive and bewildering, and Dave is totally flummoxed by his behaviour. Buddy acts out at every opportunity, making obscene gestures, snide remarks, and goading Dave into confrontations head-on.
Fresh off his Oscar nomination, Nicholson gives a command performance as he is freed of any dramatic pretence, and runs riot through this movie.
With zen-like clarity and a straight face, Buddy delivers corny lines like 'Temper is the one thing you can't get rid of by losing it' and the truly witless 'The angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes'.
Whatever you want to say about him, Nicholson's eyebrow-jiggling thing slays me everytime.
And I dare you to keep a straight face when Buddy and Dave are in bed together, and Buddy casually comments 'I like to sleep in the nude' and then whips off his underwear and throws it to a far corner of the room.
The look on Dave's face is priceless.
ROLLING IN THE ISLES
However, arguably the best gag of the film occurs when Buddy stops the car in the middle of traffic on the Queensboro bridge, and forces Dave to sing I Feel Pretty from the Westside Story while angry NYC drivers scream at him and honk their horns. And you'll be rolling in the aisles during his confrontation with his elementary school bully, Arnie Shankman (played by Oscar nominee John C. Reilly).
The casting for this movie is truly incredible, with Marisa Tomei playing Dave's girlfriend Linda.
Sandler's regular circle of friends such as John Torturro (Chuck), Andrew Covert (Linda's college boyfriend with the huge package) and Saturday Night Live vet Kevin Nealon (Dave's inept attorney), appear in this movie. There are also 'surprise' cameos by sports superstars like Derek Jeter, Roger Clemens, John McEnroe and coach Bobby Knight.
Still, despite the heavyweight cameos that amp up the absurdity, it is sometimes hard to watch Sandler do a slow burn, I prefer the wildly aggressive, obnoxiousness of the Waterboy and Big Daddy characters. Who wants to see Sandler play the straight guy, the put-upon everyman?
There are some wildly insane ideas and great moments and the film earned US$44.5 million in its debut to make it the top April opener of all time so Sandler must be doing something right.
What I find surprising is that somehow this oddball treatment works, and Dave's life actually improves during the course of the movie. There may be something to this 'anger management' thing after all.
