The Upside of Anger Information

The Upside of Anger is a 2005 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Binder and set in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It stars Joan Allen, Kevin Costner and Evan Rachel Wood.

Cast

• Joan Allen as Terry Wolfmeyer
• Kevin Costner as Denny Davies, Terry's boyfriend.
• Alicia Witt as Hadley Wolfmeyer, Terry's eldest daughter.
• Keri Russell as Emily Wolfmeyer, Terry's second daughter.
• Erika Christensen as Andy Wolfmeyer, Terry's third daughter.
• Evan Rachel Wood as Lavender "Popeye" Wolfmeyer, Terry's youngest daughter.
• Mike Binder as Adam "Shep" Goodman, producer.
• Tom Harper as David Jr.
• Dane Christensen as Gorden Reiner
• Danny Webb as Grey Wolfmeyer, Terry's husband.
• Magdalena Manville as Darlene
• Suzanne Bertish as Gina
• David Firth as David Sr.
• Rod Woodruff as Dean Reiner
• Stephen Greif as Emily's doctor.
• Arthur Penhallow as Himself

Plot

The opening scene presents Terry and her daughters, with Denny, attending a funeral.

About three years earlier, a flashback reveals, Terry had told her daughters that she thought their father, Grey, had left the family to be with his former secretary in Sweden. After sharing the news with neighbor Denny, a retired baseball player turned radio talkshow host and fellow alcoholic, Terry progressively grows close to the man, with whom she eventually begins an intimate relationship.

Keen to help where he can, Denny helps Andy, one of Terry's daughters, to become a production assistant at the radio station where he works, where she meets and starts a relationship with Shep, Denny's producer, a questionable character in his 40s. Meanwhile Popeye, who is attending a private high school, finds herself attracted to a classmate, whose attention she fails to grab even after clearly declaring her interest to him (the classmate purports to be gay).

Emily's original wishes to attend a performing arts school to study dancing are superseded by her mother's request that she pursue university studies, which she starts at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Hadley, for her part, announces immediately following her graduation that she is engaged to her boyfriend of three years, and pregnant.

When young Popeye asks Denny what his long-term intentions are concerning his relationship with her mother, Denny decides to broach the subject with Terry, only to be confronted by anger and accusations that he is trying to push her into a marriage for which she feels unready. Weary and tired of Terry's ever-shifting moods, Denny storms out of her house; the separation is only temporary, though, as the two reconcile a short while later.

When a real estate deal involving both Denny and Terry finally goes through, construction begins in the area surrounding their homes and, when a worker accidentally uncovers a well, Grey Wolfmeyer's body is found, revealing in fact that he had never abandoned his family. Rather, he had accidentally fallen in the well and drowned.

As the story returns to the initial scene, the Wolfmeyers and Denny, now part of the family, leave Grey's funeral to reveal that Terry, while saddened and grieving, is coming to terms with her own and her daughters' life choices and, finally, finding some inner peace.

Production

According to the closing credits and the special features section of the DVD, much of the film was shot at Ealing Studios, London. Part was filmed in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a wealthy suburb of Detroit.

Reception

The film holds a 74% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 164 reviews (121 positive, 43 negative).

Awards and nominations

Awards won

• Chicago Film Critics Association: (1) Best Actress - Joan Allen
• San Francisco Film Critics Circle: (1) Best Supporting Actor - Kevin Costner

Nominations

• Online Film Critics Society: (1) Best Actress - Joan Allen
• Satellite Awards: (2) Best Musical or Comedy Actor - Kevin Costner, Best Musical or Comedy Actress - Joan Allen