Adam Sandler movies generally are not associated with high caliber acting, well-developed characters, or intricate plots. “Anger Management” is no exception, despite its attempts to remedy these issues.
The movie features the goofy and loveable Sandler playing, who else, but himself. This time around, his name is Dave Buznik, an ad executive for a company that designs coats for cats — definitely one of the more bizarre jobs a Sandler character has had.
He also has a girlfriend named Linda (Marisa Tomei), a situation different from typical Sandler fare where he normally starts the movie single or recently dumped and ends the movie dating someone new.
He does, however, struggle to keep her throughout this film, eventually employing his traditional mad-dash last attempt to get her back. Will Adam Sandler get the girl as always, or will the film end on a sad note? “Anger Management” really keeps you guessing until the end.
“Anger Management” begins with Dave saying goodbye to Linda in an airport, still afraid of showing public displays of affection after his childhood trauma. It’s not clear why being pantsed as a child would affect one’s adult behavior, but this movie makes it clear that it does.
After assaulting a flight attendant, he is sentenced to attend anger management classes with Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson). However, when it appears that Buddy has more issues then Dave, hijinks ensue. For instance, When his breakfast isn’t cooked right, Buddy hurls the plate at the wall.
He makes Dave sing “I Feel Pretty” from West Side Story with his car stopped in the middle of a bridge. But unlike Opera Man from Saturday Night Live, Sandler singing West Side Story is just not that funny, especially after its repeated ad nausea. If the filmmakers wanted to use West Side Story for comic proportions, they could have had Sandler approaching a gang while snapping. But perhaps this film was designed to take Sandler in new directions. After all, he never does his retarded boy or old lady impersonations. And there are no hallucinations of giant penguins. Of course, there’s always hope for the deleted scenes on DVD.
Like Sandler, Tomei and Nicholson do not turn in impressive performances. It’s a shame, as they both have won Academy Awards for comedies. Tomei, whose minor character is absent for most of the film, doesn’t do enough to separate her from every other Sandler movie girl. We wonder why she is with a character like Dave and we never really find out why she stays with him.Maybe she wants discounts on coats for her cat, but we never see a cat in the movie so this is probably not the reason.
Nicholson, sporting a grey Van Dyke, feels terribly miscast in this movie. While Dave has issues expressing his anger, Buznik instantly shifts from happy to enraged, similar to the characters Adam Sandler usually plays. An older actor like Nicholson seems unconvincing in this role, which a younger actor might have better filled.
On a positive note, the anger management classes feature humorous performances with prior Sandler collaborators John Turturro and Luis Guzm
