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Of course, the characters don’t start off as rude lushes. Terry Wolfmeyer goes into a major tailspin when her husband abruptly leaves their home without giving any notice.

Saying that she doesn’t take it well is like saying that the Exxon Valdez left a small trickle.

Terry instantly plops herself in front of the television and downs the booze as if she’s been paid to empty a distillery. Her four college and high school age daughters Hadley, Emily, Andy and Popeye (Alicia Witt, Keri Russell, Erika Cristensen and Evan Rachel Wood) pretty much fend for themselves as Terry mopes and screams her way though life.

Things don’t get much better but certainly become more colorful when former baseball great Denny Davis (Kevin Costner) staggers into her life. Now that he’s no longer swatting pitches, Denny hosts a lowly call-in radio show that might do better if he devoted more of the discussion toward the sport that gives him his sole claim to legitimacy.

Curiously, by helping Terry empty her bottles, Denny inadvertently comes close to redeeming them both. He helps Andy land a job at his radio station, even if it means she starts dating his lecherous producer Shep (writer-director Mike Binder, in a delightfully sleazy turn).

Terry, in turn, cleans up his place and starts a bizarre affair with him. In the process, she slowly gets him to do more with his life than simply rest on his laurels.

Mike Binder’s script and direction manage to make all of this believable and compelling. Having once helmed the nearly unwatchable superhero comedy “Blankman,” it’s a pleasure to discover that he can pen some snappy dialogue and create dynamic and interesting characters.

Great casting doesn’t hurt.

Allen manages to sneak some affection into Terry’s ferocious bile. In her blunt manner, she tries to keep her offspring from making decisions that will harm them later. Allen also manages to imbue Terry with a sharp wit that makes it a pleasure to watch her dress down anyone who tries to make a chump of her.

Costner matches Allen’s prowess and demonstrates remarkable courage. Sure, we’ve seen him play over-the-hill athletes before (“Bull Durham,” “Tin Cup”), but in those film Costner always had an upper hand and knew the score better than his less experienced rivals.

Here, he whole heartedly embrace’s Denny’s buffoonery and sense of resignation. He’s never played a doofus before, but Costner demonstrates that he’s got a lot more range that his detractors give him credit for having.

Binder knows he’s got a lot of material to play with, and “The Upside of Anger” sometimes suffers because it tries to do a little too much. With the exception of Keri Russell’s overachieving Emily, Wolfmeyer daughters are a bit sketchy. Keeping up with all four them is tricky, and some of their traits seem redundant. The film might have been stronger if there had been only one or two offspring.

Nonetheless, Binder pulls off a major hat trick by sticking in a moral without preaching at his audience. By treating his deeply flawed characters with equally deep warmth, he manages to tell viewers not to let bitterness consume them without coming off like a hypocrite.

link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=11272&reviewer=382
originally posted: 04/03/05 20:40:24
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