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05 May 2007

The Upside of Anger

I went to the moviehouse, to see this movie, on a Saturday night. Now usually on a Saturday night, people go to the movies, two by two, like Noah's Ark. But tonight I noticed there were a lot of single women in the audience. Or, at least shall I say, there were a lot of women sitting by themselves.

That's when I started to suspect that this might be a bad movie. Middle-aged, divorced women going to see a divorce chick flick. Oh boy that sounds like a barrel of fun. The last time I was in an audience like that was for the movie Something's Gotta Give, with the impossible-to-watch Jack Nicholson, and the white-turtleneck-wearing Diane Keaton.

Let's make no mistake about it: The Upside of Anger is a bad movie. But, that being said, don't, whatever you do, walk out before the movie ends, for the movie takes a vital twist in the last, say, twenty minutes. A twist to the tune of The Sixth Sense where you finally, after two hours, realize that Demi Moore's husband is actually dead.

Back to Anger, I was shocked and rather horrified by Terry (played by the anorexic Joan Allen) and Denny's (played by a really really fat and lazy Kevin Costner) no-shame relationship. I mean, come on, Terry is raising four daughters on her own (now that Terry's husband "left her" for his Swedish secretary). It's the mother's responsibility to set an example for the kids, not repeatedly get drunk with Denny the neighbor and have him spend the night, night after night. What kind of message does that send to the kids?

The thing is, Terry (the mother) therefore had no right at all to be angry with the 18-year-old daughter when she (the daughter) was found naked in bed in her room, with her (the daughter's) 40-year-old boyfriend. I mean come on: kids do as their parents do, not as they say. Isn't the biggest job of a parent to set a good example?

OK, I'll step off my soapbox now.

The one thing that this movie should reinforce to you is that there are always two sides to every story. That's something we should all keep in mind. I mean, how much energy did Skinny Terry spend hating her husband (who allegedly left her for a younger woman)? And, at the end of the day, was it worth it?

For next movie review, please click here.