Cady's Take:

After being abandoned by her husband and left to raise their four daughters alone, bitter and brittle housewife Terry Wolfmeyer (Joan Allen,) strikes up a relationship with her drinking buddy neighbor Denny (Kevin Costner).

This is a story about two wounded people finding each other, but the movie simply fails to convince or involve. It also attempts to give us a glimpse into a mother's relationship with her daughters although I believe there should have been better subplots for the four young women, Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell and Alicia Witt. They're all good actresses, but none of them looks or acts much like sisters, or daughters to Allen for that matter.

This is not a horrible movie. I really really wanted to love this film, especially because of Joan Allen whom I am very fond of, but there are far too many implausible situations. I found Upside of Anger to be ambitious but unsatisfying. The one really clever directorial moment, Terry's dinner-table fantasy, is so out of step with the rest of the film that it's more jarring than successful. Not to mention the fact that I absolutely detested the movie's finale. It was way too far-fetched, simply absurd and almost insulting.

Joan Allen does give a brilliant performance, she truly makes you feel that Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. But something is missing in the movie, and it's not just Mr. Wolfmeyer.

Great. So for some reason because the ending doesn't tie this movie up in a little bow, critics (including my lovely partner in crime, Cady) seem to think that it is a cop out. I disagree. Life is messy and weird and strange things happen sometime, and so goes the ending of "The Upside of Anger". I am not going to talk anymore about that because I really think that more than one person will see this movie and agree that a quirky, intelligent comedy/romance/drama is worth more than a "happily-ever-after" ending. I just want ONE person to rent this movie and let me know that I was right...I do love being right...

Kevin Costner is at his best in "Upside". I think Costner gets a bad rap because his more ambitious projects have famously flopped (think "The Postman" or "Waterworld") but his Denny Davies is an affable guy who likes himself and likes other people. When Terry Wolfmeyer (Joan Allen) finds herself abandoned by her husband, Denny comes along to provide some comfort in her most solitary and angry moments. It doesn't hurt that they are both pretty wasted for at least the beginning of their relationship. Terry's daughters are also hurt by the sudden disappearance of their father, and "Upside" is very much about family dynamics, as much as it is about a woman coping with a new and unexpected life.

Three of the four Wolfmeyer daughters are played by my favorite actresses: Popeye is played by Rachel Evan Wood ("Thirteen", "Now and Again"), Hadley by Alicia Witt ("Mr. Holland's Opus"), and Kerri Russell ("Felicity"). The fourth is played by Erika Christenson who I just may add to that list shortly. These are real people: sometimes we like them, sometimes we don't and isn't that just like life? "The Upside of Anger" will most certainly reflect something back to you that you recognize in yourself - with the added benefit of making you laugh. Now that is what I call "What to Rent".