Anger Management (film)

Anger Management

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Peter Segal
Produced by Jack Giarraputo
Barry Bernandi
Written by David S. Dorfman
Starring Adam Sandler
Jack Nicholson
Marisa Tomei
Luis Guzmán
Woody Harrelson
John Turturro
Music by Teddy Castellucci
Cinematography Donald McAlpine
Edited by Jeff Gourson
Production
company
Revolution Studios
Happy Madison
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • April 11, 2003
Running time
 106 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $75 million
Box office $195.7 million

Anger Management is a 2003 American slapstick comedy film directed by Peter Segal, written by David S. Dorfman, and starring Adam Sandler, Jack Nicholson, and Marisa Tomei . It was produced by Revolution Studios in association with Sandler's production company Happy Madison Productions and was distributed by Columbia Pictures.

When an annoying passenger causes Dave Buznik to lose his temper on an airline flight, he is sentenced to anger management classes. Buznik learns his therapist is the passenger, who proves to have a rather interventionist style of therapy.

Plot

In 1978, a young Dave Buznik is about to kiss the girl of his dreams, when a local bully, Arnie Shankman, pulls down his pants and underwear, embarrassing him in front of everybody. This leaves Dave with lasting trauma about public affection, as well as repressing his emotions. In the present day, Dave Buznik lives in New York, working as a secretary for Frank Head, an abusive boss who takes credit for Dave's work. His problems also extend to his private life, his girlfriend Linda's ex-boyfriend Andrew still being close friends with her and being condescending to Dave at work.

While flying to a business meeting, Dave sits next to a man named Buddy Rydell. After a series of annoyances cause Dave to lose his temper, a sky marshal tasers him, and Dave is arrested and sentenced to anger management therapy. The therapist happens to be Buddy. Buddy's unorthodox techniques cause Dave to lose his temper, and Buddy tells Dave he recognizes his problem as passive-aggressive anger. After Dave gets into a bar fight caused by another of Buddy's patients, Chuck, Dave is sent back to court and Buddy intervenes on his behalf, choosing to move in with Dave and shadow him in his life as part of more intensive therapy. Failure to comply will result in a year of jail time for Dave. Having Buddy as an unexpected and hovering roommate irritates Dave, which prompts Buddy to offer more therapeutic advice which, in turn, irritates Dave even more. Although Dave believes Andrew is doing nothing to ruin him at work, Buddy suspects otherwise and tells him that he needs to start fighting back or nothing will change. After receiving a phone call for Buddy informing him his mother is undergoing minor surgery, Dave jokes to him about its seriousness, prompting Buddy to warn he'll get Dave back.

After seeing Buddy's mother, the two stop at a restaurant on the way back to New York and after Buddy pressures him Dave flirts with and goes home with a young lady, but rejects her out of loyalty to Linda. Later, Dave is devastated to learn that Buddy has told Linda about the woman, but Buddy explains the woman was a former patient of his, having set up the encounter to get revenge on Dave for the "dying mother" prank, and he will explain the truth to Linda. Buddy takes a detour to a Buddhist temple, so that Dave can confront a reformed Arnie. While confronting his tormenter, Arnie expressed his sincerest apologies to Dave for being a bully to him all his life and knowing he didn't deserve to be treated with such disrespect. When Arnie laughs when Dave brings up his childhood prank, Dave and Buddy get into a physical altercation and are chased off the grounds, Dave feeling good on confronting his tormentor. Back in New York, Dave attempts to propose to Linda but loses his nerve, and Linda suggests that they take a break from their relationship. Soon after Buddy begins dating Linda and a restraining order is issued against Dave when he assaults Buddy as the last straw for him and attacks him.

Called into work and yelled at by his boss, Dave finally snaps when he learns that his boss intentionally passed him and gave the promotion to Andrew. He immediately confronts both men for the way they've mistreated him in the past. Dave calls Andrew out for trying to interfere with both his promotion and relationship with Linda, revealing he wants Andrew out of their lives permanently. When Andrew attempts to insult him about being too dependent on Buddy to back him up and admits he isn't good enough for Linda, Dave debunks the claim and knocks him out cold. He proceeds to humiliate his boss by using a golf club to wreck his office and reminding him of all the years of his loyal services just to be denied of the promotion he wanted so much. Dave then tells him if he ever gets out of jail within three years, he expects his boss to do the right thing and give the promotion to him that Andrew presumably resigned from. His boss agrees and before Dave leaves, he warns his boss to treat his cat, Meatball, with more respect because he is eating his crab cakes as revenge for the mistreatment he put him through. Learning Buddy has taken Linda to a New York Yankees game, Dave assumes Buddy intends to steal his proposal idea and races to the stadium. Security captures him and begins to remove him from the stadium but Mayor Rudy Giuliani orders them to allow Dave to speak. After admitting that he does have an anger problem and is willing to change, Dave agrees to kiss Linda in front of the stadium in exchange for her marrying him. Linda and Buddy then reveal that the game was the final part of Dave's therapy, and explain that the tormentors and aggravations he has been put through were Buddy's doing (except the sky marshall, who according to Linda simply had a bad day) to teach him how to unleash his anger in healthy doses to avoid it building up.

The three attend a picnic with Buddy's other patients, where Dave plays a final joke on Buddy with a friend holding the group up with a water pistol, and the film ends as the friends sing "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story together.

Cast

Several others appeared as themselves, such as:

Soundtrack

Critical reception

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 43% of critics gave the film positive reviews, with an average reviewer score of 5.1/10, based on 189 reviews. The site's consensus reads "Though not without its funny moments, Anger Management is ultimately stale and disappointingly one-note, especially considering its capable cast."[1] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 52 out of 100, based on 38 reviews.[2]

TV series adaptation

A television series based on the film premiered on June 28, 2012,[3] starring Charlie Sheen in the role originated by Jack Nicholson; the series is Sheen's first acting role since his firing from the hit CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men on March 7, 2011 after eight seasons.[4] The show is produced by the film's producer Joe Roth, and is broadcast on FX in the United States, CTV in Canada and on TBS in Latin America.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Anger Management Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
  2. ↑ "Anger Management (2003): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
  3. ↑ "Breaking News – FX Locks Summer Launch Date for Comedy Series". The futon Critic. Archived from the original on 2012-09-29. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
  4. ↑ "Charlie Sheen eyes TV return in 'Anger Management'". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
  5. ↑ "Charlie Sheen's 'Anger Management' to premiere next summer on FX". Hollywood.com. Archived from the original on 2012-08-03. Retrieved 2011-10-27.

External links