Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
The Upside of Anger (2005)
Director: Mike Binder
Movie review
From Time Out London
When her husband leaves without a goodbye, housewife Joan Allen turns to the bottle to cope with rejection and raise four high-school to college-age daughters. A similarly sozzled Kevin Costner pitches up one day to discuss the sale of a vacant lot adjoining their upscale Detroit properties, and soon this ex-baseball star, now scuffing along on local radio, is spending a lot of time there. He may be just what she needs, or the last thing she needs – if she ever says sober long enough to work it out.This serio-comic rumination on life’s skewed learning curve deserves some credit for leading with a couple of flailing, insecure, not all that likeable characters, showcasing excellent work from Allen (one of the great screen drunks) and Costner (uncommonly persuasive playing against type). There’s spiky humour and ample breathing room for the material, yet the movie’s rather too intent on parading its own wisdom. Given the catastrophic final twist and a cloying voiceover explaining the point of it all, perhaps such smugness wasn’t such a great idea after all.
Author: Trevor Johnston
Time Out London Issue 1915: April 25-May 1 2007
Cast & crew
Director: Mike Binder
Producer: Alex Gartner, Jack Binder, Sammy Lee
Cast: Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt, Mike Binder, Dane Christensen full cast
Genre(s): Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated: 15
Duration: 117 mins
UK Release: May 4 2007
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations












What do you think?
Post your review now