“Somebody Call the Script Doctor…This Film Needs Therapy”

Whenever I watch this brand of movie, I always have to stop and ask myself, “Do people like this really exist?” I suppose they do; archetypes this clearly defined aren’t created in a vacuum…or a test tube. And yet, I’ve never known anyone as easily enraged as Dave Buznik (Adam Sandler) or as certifiable as Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson). The movie’s casting was a no-brainer: Sandler excels at playing selfish, mad-at-the-world types and nobody does psychotic better than Nicholson; together, they’re a disturbing riff on The Odd Couple.

Dave is a mild-mannered businessman who bottles up everything inside and avoids conflict at all costs. In an uncharacteristic act, Dave looses his temper on a jet and later faces charges for his outburst—in order to avoid jail time, he must attend counseling sessions. Buddy, an anger management expert, is assigned the task of rehabilitating Dave, who, of course, claims he doesn’t have an anger problem…that all changes when Buddy’s unorthodox methods start to grate on Dave’s nerves. After finding Dave to be an “extreme” case, the court grants Buddy’s request to move in with Dave so that the psychologist can keep a closer eye on his patient. This doesn’t sit well with Dave or his girlfriend Linda (Marrisa Tomei), and that’s when, as they say, the defecation hits the rotary oscillator.

You’ve seen this movie before…it’s called What About Bob? and stars Bill Murray as a needy patient who stalks his vacationing psychiatrist, Richard Dreyfuss. The roles have been reversed and Buddy’s counseling strategies actually have some merit, but the two plots, at their core, share more than just a passing resemblance. Unfortunately, the same virus that afflicted What About Bob? has also infected Anger Management; namely the unrelenting torrent of screwball humor, melodramatic performances and a plot that borders on the absurd. Dave and Buddy are so dysfunctional that the majority of “normal” audience members will find it hard to identify with the deranged duo, much less sympathize with them. And just who exactly is supposed to be the protagonist here?

Director Peter Segal and writer David Dorfman have offered up a soulless story that flirts with salience but fails to deliver the smallest morsel of meaning. An even larger disappointment is that the movie—a supposed comedy—isn’t even all the funny. The best exchange in the film comes when Dave and Buddy are lying side by side in bed. Buddy offers, “In Europe, it’s not considered unusual for three or more men to share a bed,” to which Dave replies, “That’s why I’m proud to be an American.”

For the updated Miracle on 34th Street (1994), 20th Century Fox, confident they had produced a hit, offered a money back guarantee to disappointed attendees. Why can’t they ever make that kind of offer for a movie like this? After sitting through two hours of Anger Management, I was definitely mad enough to ask for my money back!

Rating: 2

Tags: Comedy