dierregi Terry Wolfmeyer gets angry and depressed when husband Grey runs away with his secretary and leaves her with their four daughters. She starts drinking heavily and spending time with alcoholic neighbor Denny, an ex-baseball star with lots of money and not much to do.The four daughters Grumpy, Dancer, Slutty and Stoned accept the news of their father disappearance with nonchalance.Among the movie's many problems: we never see the "lovable and sweet" Terry - as described by daughter Stoned - before Grey's disappearance. We just see her as an angry, unpleasant bitch and as such it is difficult to root for her.In three years, neither Terry nor her daughters ever try to get in touch with Grey. I understand being angry, but some financial/administrative problems must have required Grey to be informed or consulted. If Terry did not want to talk to him – which proves how incredibly immature she is– one of the daughters could have tried. Terry is showed to be a housewife and Grey's supposed to be going bust. Where did they get the money to finance their lavish lifestyle?Not a word is being said about Grey's disappearing with only his wallet and not a single suitcase or any spare clothes. Under normal circumstances, if a member of your family would vanish from one day to the other - after jumping to whatever conclusion - one would probably start to get worried about total lack of contact, but not in this family. Maybe hire a PI? Not the Wolfmeyer....The thin main plot is padded by secondary plots about each of the daughters: Grumpy gets married and pregnant (not in this order), Dancer is sick, Slutty sleeps with her older boss and Stoned gets stoned with a gay guy. Being so busy with their social activities they never exchange ideas about what might have happened to dad.The story wraps up a bit like the virgin suicides in reverse, which proves that bad girls have more fun and good girls top themselves.

slightlymad22 Continuing my plan to watch ever Kevin Costner movie in order I come to The Upside Of Anger from 2005Plot In A Paragraph: Terry Wolfmeyer (Joan Allen) a suburban wife, is left to raise her four headstrong daughters when her husband unexpectedly leaves (presumably to Sweden with his secretary) without a trace. Things get even more hectic when she falls for her neighbour Denny (a scene stealing KC) a once-great baseball star turned radio d.j. This leaves her daughters out on a limb. The Upside Of Anger is a funny film for me. It's filled with brilliant performances, is well written, and well directed. But for some reason I never watch it. This is one of my least viewed KC movies, despite it featuring a great performance from him. All the cast are brilliant, Joan Allen always is, Erika Christensen (i expected to see more of her, but I never have) Kerr Russell, Alicia Witt and Evan Rachel Wood all play the daughters really well.But as the lonely alcoholic drinking buddies Terry and Denny Allen and KC own this movie, I think in the hands of two lesser actors this wouldn't have worked anywhere near as well. KC simply steals every scene he is in and I believe he deserved on Oscar nomination. In fact Joan Allen should have been nominated too. I remember a lot of reviews focused on how great KC was in it, and suggested this would be a contender around Oscar time, and when KC and Joan Allen were both nominated for Critics Choice awards, I thought it might have a chance, but it didn't earn a single nomination, and it didn't actually turn up in the UK until 2007. By which point I had already seen his next two movies and was awaiting Mr Brooks. When it was released over here unexpectedly with no promotion. If I didn't see a critics review in The Sun newspaper, I never would have known it was released. For a movie of this quality I think that's a disgrace.

RyanCShowers The Upside of Anger is a wonderful film about the struggles of anger. It's dark comedic touch grabs you from the start without releasing you until the credits roll. The script is funny, charming, well-written dialogue; just absolutely lovely. The direction is dead-on. The director makes you feel like you want to be in this environment that, let's face it isn't the most optimistic. The highlight here is the lead performance from Joan Allen. She's magical here.How the Academy can sleep at night knowing they didn't nominate her is just beyond comprehension. Kevin Costner gives his best performance to date here, as well. The entire ensemble works with one-another, and it shows.This is a smaller film, so many people haven't heard of it, but I beg you to see it; 10.

Robert W. I am a huge Kevin Costner fan and I waited a long to see The Upside of Anger because I figured it to be an 'okay' movie...average at best and as with all great surprises this one floored me because The Upside of Anger is absolutely brilliant and now goes onto my favorites list for all time. There is something subtle about the way the film plays out, and also so real and demanding and high emotions from beginning to end from each member of this seemingly dysfunctional family that always manages to pull together. The twist at the end is the exact definition of a twist. There was absolutely no way you saw anything like this coming, and the last few moments of the film completely change everything that came before it. You become so intertwined with this woman's bitter anger, and emotions that discovering that twist makes you feel exactly the way she would have felt and it's devastating and relieving all at once...it's the "Upside of Anger." I completely believe that there were some severely overlooked performances for Golden Globes, Academy Awards and so forth in this film and one of them hands down is Joan Allen who turns a downright incredible performance as Terry Ann Wolfmeyer, the mother of four beautiful girls who finds herself abandoned by her husband following a mid life crisis of sorts. Terry quickly becomes the ideal functional alcoholic, always a drink in her hand but also still up and interacting and hovering protectively over her children. Unfortunately her spite and anger come across as bitter and sharp comments that leave her family feeling her bite. Allen is drop dead amazing in this role!! Kevin Costner is almost as impressive as radio talk show host and equally functioning alcoholic Denny Davies. Davies has a washed up baseball career, sells autographed balls on the internet, lives in squaller and drinks like a fish and somehow Davies and Terry find a common bond in their misery. Costner is upbeat and depressing all at once. He is also truly one of the good guys because he genuinely loves and cares for Allen's character and stands with her through everything in hopes to find love back. He's the most upstanding sleaze ball I've ever seen. He has morals and loves his new family. The four daughters are such an integral part of this film because each one develop a different way that their mother's anger effects them. Erika Christensen, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt, and Evan Rachel Wood are so good both together with the cast and in their own right. Christensen develops a more outgoing and determined personality desperate to make something of herself and be a strong woman. Russell's character has her dreams severely dampened by her mother's harsh words and non-supportive comments. Alicia Witt hides her new found love from her mother so as to not have it ruined and quickly marries and has children to escape her. And the young Evan Rachel Wood tries to adjust to teenage life with a gay friend that she likes and her older sisters changing personalities. They all do an amazing job!! Terrific director Mike Binder also plays a supporting role as radio Producer 'Shep' who has a taste for young women including the young Andy Wolfmeyer played by Christensen. Binder is great as the sleazy and yet down to earth Shep who really just makes his moves for himself and you don't really want to hold that against him. A particularly powerful scene involves an intense argument between Shep and Allen's character.The Upside of Anger might be one of the most powerful drama's I have seen in a very long time and given me a great deal of respect for Joan Allen and Mike Binder. The film doesn't blow you away right away but has this subtle intelligence and such deep emotion that draws you in and makes you such a huge part of each character's lives and then leaves you breathless. This is an absolute must see film. It's drama, romance, mystery, and just emotion boiling over. This film is extremely under rated and few really appreciate it for what it is and I am proud to say that I appreciate it as one of my favorite films of all time!! 10/10