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ANGER MANAGEMENT (PG-13)

Plot Summary: An overly meek man undergoes questionable psychological treatment to get in touch with his anger.

Reason for the Rating: Rated PG-13 on appeal for crude sexual content and language.
Previously rated (R) in (03).

Don’t spend your money on this movie.

Okay, maybe that’s a little on the short side for a full review. But it pretty much sums up my reaction to ANGER MANAGEMENT, the Jack Nicholson/Adam Sandler blockbuster "comedy" that cleaned up over $40 million its first weekend in theatres. In fact, I walked out about 45 minutes into the film. My wife walked out about 30 minutes into the film. And both of us should have walked out earlier than that, regardless of what the box office totals say. Here's why...

The advertisements for this movie give no hint of the crude and foul content that are in store for you. Ostensibly it’s a story about wimpy Dave (Adam Sandler, Mr. Deeds, The Wedding Singer) who is wrongfully accused of being an abusive and angry person on an airplane because of our nation’s post-9/11 sensitivity to terrorists. He is sentenced to intensive anger management therapy under an unorthodox therapist, Dr. Rydell (Jack Nicholson, As Good as It Gets, Hoffa).

But what it’s really about is seeing how much depravity you can squeeze into 106 minutes.

For starters, there's a pervasive preoccupation with homosexual content in this movie. Early on, two lesbian lovers make out on camera—in front of a group of men who encourage them with statements like, “Oh, I like that!” Later, Rydell moves in with Dave and shares a bed with him. He sleeps in the nude and wants to “spoon” with Dave. When Rydell pays a transvestite male prostitute to get in the back seat and proposition Dave, which he does to sickening excess, I knew it was time for me to leave the theater. The movie also takes pains to concentrate on the relative size of various male characters’…anatomy.

I don’t know how this movie ends up, and honestly I don’t care. It simply wasn't entertaining, nor was it "artistic," nor was it anything but an excuse to flaunt degradation in the name of humor. Don't add your money to its success, and maybe next time we can get a Nicholson/Sandler collaboration that's actually funny.

Final note: This movie was originally rated R by the MPAA. But then director Peter Segal (Tommy Boy) cut out some material and went through an appeals process to get it knocked down to a PG-13. It should’ve remained an R, in my opinion. No doubt the deleted material will appear on the DVD.

FamilyFans.com Recommends: Skip it! If you’re in the mood for a fairly clean Adam Sandler movie, try The Wedding Singer. If you want some fairly clean Nicholson, rent Batman.

After the Show…If members of your family choose to view this movie, use these questions to spark discussion about it afterward:

---Jack Nicholson’s character says there are two kinds of anger: the kind the explodes and the kind that implodes. Have you seen examples of each kind?

---Homosexual agendas are rampant in this movie, as they are in our culture. Some people think the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality is outdated. What do you think, and why?

---ANGER MANAGEMENT depicts a society that overreacts to people who display anger. Do you think America is overreacting since 9/11? In what ways

Jefferson Scott

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