Anger Management could have been a fascinating “pass the torch” movie. It takes one of the great comedians of today, Adam Sandler, and puts him with a great comedian of the past, Jack Nicholson. This pairing, along with the ripe situation of an anger management program, should have been something special. Instead, the movie underwhelms despite a couple great cameos.
Dave Buznik (Adam Sandler) is a mild mannered person when it comes to expressing his emotions due to an experience from his past. After a misunderstanding on a plane lands him in court, he is sentenced to an anger managment program run by Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson). As the program becomes more intense, it drives Dave and his girlfriend (Marisa Tomei) to their respective breaking points.
Although there are flashes of brilliance in the interplay between Sandler and Nicholson, a great majority of this opportunity is squandered. Part of this is unfamiliarity, but I think most of the reason is the script, which doesn’t provide enough time to let the two stars work more together. Nicholson also shows a penchant to go over the top too much. Sandler actually acquits himself well to the wild sways in personality he is required to undergo for his role, but the story doesn’t provide enough payoff to make the acting worthwhile.
Fortunately, compared to the love story, Anger Management is a masterpiece. The romance is shoehorned in to give Dave motivation to change, but the heat between Marisa Tomei and Adam Sandler is nonexistent. Her motivation is unexplained and her actions could have a potentially good backstory, but the script is uninterested in exploring this. Poor Marisa Tomei does the best she can with the material, but she has a thankless role on a poorly sketched character; even she can’t save it.
The biggest bright spot are the cameos. Woody Harrelson has a great cameo as a security guard; however, the security guard is a secondary income to his primary job, which I will not reveal. Each scene he is in he steals. So do Heather Graham and John Tuturro as former patients of Buddy Rydell. The patients of Dr. Rydell create the most enjoyable scenes in the movie. In fact, extended scenes riffing between these characters might have injected the story with more energy. As it is, these cameos were solid, and needed to keep from falling asleep.
Anger Management is a wasted opportunity. It’s great when there is an opportunity to pass a torch in a movie from one generation to the next. Hopefully Adam Sandler learns lessons from Anger Management, and when the opportunity arises where he can pass the torch, he picks a better project.