For every gag that works, there are 10 that reek in "Anger Management."
Adam Sandler plays lifelong doormat Dave Buznik, who’s too much the inert wimp to rise above his job designing clothing for overweight felines. Yet for all his passivity and inhibitions, Dave manages to win and keep the heart of the bright and beautiful Linda (Marisa Tomei).
On a business flight, Dave is seated next to obnoxious, intrusive Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson). A logic-defying fracas follows in which Dave, meekly seeking headphones to watch the in-flight movie, is accused of assaulting a flight attendant and winds up subdued by an air marshal.
A judge sentences Dave to 20 hours of anger management with a therapist – who, coincidence of coincidences – turns out to be Buddy. Dave is subjected to enough discord and antagonism from Buddy and his group-therapy patients to rile Gandhi.
The movie ultimately tosses up an explanation for the outlandish paces the system puts Dave through. But it’s a contrivance, and an unnecessary one, really, given that "Anger Management" never aspires to anything more than lowbrow hijinks. Let’s throw crazy Adam and crazy Jack together and see what happens.
That approach does result in funny moments. Prolonged as the scene is, it’s hard not to crack a smile when Buddy forces Dave to stop his car in heavy traffic on New York’s Queensboro Bridge for a duet on "I Feel Pretty" while angry motorists crawl past, cursing.
Notable supporting players include Heather Graham, Woody Harrelson and Harry Dean Stanton in walk-on roles, Sandler pal Kevin Nealon as Dave’s inept attorney, "Punch-Drunk Love" co-star Luis Guzman as an effeminate anger patient and John C. Reilly as Dave’s boyhood bully turned Buddhist monk.
John Turturro, the only decent element in Sandler’s "Mr. Deeds" last year, is good for a laugh or two as Dave’s out-of-control "anger ally."
It would be easy to rant over the talent and resources squandered in the service of this bloated-to-the-gills comedy. Better to hum a calming mantra, recognize the movie for the star vehicle it is and laugh where you can – as good an approach to "Anger Management" as any.