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*** Official "ANGER MANAGEMENT" Review Thread (1 Viewer)

Dennis Pagoulatos

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Since the existing thread appears to be more of a "Discussion Thread" with no one posting a review, I thought I'd start this one for actual reviews of the film. Moderators, please move/ merge this post if you need to...

Anger Management

The kinder, gentler Adam Sandler is in this one, not the early Sandler of films like Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore. No, this is more of the Big Daddy/Mr. Deeds Sandler that some like, and some hate. I'm personally still on the fence about which Sandler I like best. Suffice it to say, the material is what makes or breaks any movie, and at least in the setup, this movie has some good material to work with. The writing is decent, and there are some very funny moments, but overall I found the script lacking. What saves it from total oblivion is the impressive cast filled with excellent actors and other noted celebrities in goofy cameos. John Turturro is, as usual, really funny, even though they barely scratched the surface of how funny he can be with the material he's given. Same with a lot of the cameos (John C. Reilly especially). Jack is funny. Sandler has his moments. And there are some really funny moments with some surprise cameos that I won't spoil. But the movie needed to go for much more than being another Sandler film clone with a better cast and a real director, and unfortunately, it doesn't. If your expectations are low, see a matinee, or better yet, wait for a second run theater, or even DVD, unless you're a die hard Sandler fan.

The final "Matrix Reloaded" trailer played before the movie in our screening, and that kinda made me go easy on this one, since that (almost) made the money I spent totally worth it. :)

:star: :star: 1/2 out of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

-Dennis
 

Robert Crawford

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This thread is now the Official Review Thread for "Anger Management". Please post all HTF member reviews in this thread.

Any other comments, links to other reviews, or discussion items will be deleted from this thread without warning!

If you need to discuss those type of issues then I have designated an Official Discussion Thread.



Crawdaddy
 

Alex Spindler

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First, no Matrix trailer. :thumbsdown:

The film itself was pretty empty. Its normal these days to hear comments like "The funniest parts of the movies are in the trailer". In most cases this is because the remainder of the jokes fall flat. The odd thing here is that the trailer highlighted all of the jokes. There are just so few that there are barely any not highlighted in the trailer.

There seemed to be some great setups for good comic scenes and then they just fizzle out. Jack and Adam have a few moments where they really run with the comic material, but those are few and far between. The best part of the movie has to be the scene with the Buddist Monks, which is telling in that it recalls the "glory days" of Happy Gilmore and similar Sandler movies. The rest is the same half hearted attempts as have become standard from him lately.

Now, I will say that I did enjoy some of the cast, especially members of the Anger group. And Jack can be funny in many of the parts. The problem is that there aren't enough of them.
 

Adam_S

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:star::star::star::star: (out of four)

I'm not going to apologize, I like Adam Sandler movies. Happy Gilmore is his best and most funny film, and Billy Madison and Waterboy were about even in my estimatation (though both extremely funny), I've not seen his recent movies like Mr. Deeds and 8 Crazy Nights, Big Daddy was an 'eh' for me, and Wedding Singer was okay. Punch Drunk Love was only sorta an Adam Sandler film, but he got to show that he really is a good actor in that film to all the naysayers that think what he does is easy, too low-brow, or slovenish.

I really enjoyed Anger Management, definitely as good as Happy Gilmore and maybe a little better, repeat viewings will tell. I definitely plan to pick this up on DVD

Sandler and Nicholsen have a great dynamic throughout the film. I loved all the cameos (undoubtably many here will find them to be a major flaw and excessive, I'll grant you the Bobby Knight was only marginally funny, and Giulianni was overused), and especially the supporting turns from three of the great modern character actors, John Turturro, John C Rielley, and THE GUZMAN! Only SNL alum I spotted was Kevin Nealon, but I think there were more. If I had any complaints its that the ending was funny if a little underwhelming and unnecessary, it should have ended before the final scene and explanation, but I can forgive that because the end was still pretty good.

I do have one complaint with the film. In the end As Sandler is speeding to the stadium after telling his boss off, theres a shot of the car bouncing/jumping down a hill/intersection, then there's a brief pick up of Sandler inside the car pounding the steering wheel going "come on, come on!" I thought that was a bit of a let down, since he showed in the previous scene he'd mastered his anger. What would have been perfect (and gotten a huge laugh) would have been after boucing over those hills it cuts to the pick up inside the car with Sandler singing "I feel pretty" loudly and enthusiastically.
but I'm not going to hold a three second bit against the film.

Right now, the "I feel pretty" scene on the bridge is the best scene of 2003 for me, or at the very least one of the best. Perfect scene and extremely funny.

Adam
 

Patrick Sun

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This film was okay. There are laughs to be had, but some of the setup of the film seemed laborious for the payoff in the last act. But the audience I saw it with had a good time with most of the film. Jack brought the entire "Jack" persona to the role for the most part, and Adam brought very of his onscreen persona to the role (mainly in the singing scenes did he let it slip out). The supporting cast was okay, and used sparingly for plot setup.

I recommend it as a matinee, but it'll do fine at the box office until May when the 2 biggies hit the screen.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.
 

dave_brogli

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I give it :star: :star: and a Half out of :star: :star: :star: :star:'s

Not the best Sandler Movie but it was good. I found myself laughing a couple times. As for the Cameos I only like Woody and Guiliani saying the YOU CAN DO IT! was dumb. As for SNL cameos I really wanted more of them. That always makes Happy Madison films better!
 

Chris_Richard

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Dec 3, 2001
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Went with the parents over Easter weekend. Mom wanted to see a comedy and dad likes Nicholson but hates Sandler. Both enjoyed and so did I.

Not memorable comedy but I laughed for a couple of hours and didn't feel ripped off at the matinee price. I’m not a fan of the Adam Sandler films, The Wedding Singer is the one I enjoy the most, and this falls a little below that. Jack is Jack and the supporting cast is good and the cameos mostly work. This has a really bad ending but enough of the first hour is enjoyable. Plus, I’ll probably enjoy any film that puts Turturro, Reily, and Guzman to nice use.

I have to agree that whoever selected the opening weekend for this film deserves a lot of the credit. They have one more week of making their money before the blockbusters arrive.

Grade: B-
 

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