***SPOILERS***
Just as mismatched as the movies strange couple, are the movie's two competing scripts. The original script's credited to David Dorfman. Provided by the producer/star Adam Sandler, the second script has many immature jokes about certain body parts and how they function, and several references to 1980's pop culture. The overall result is an uneven mixture of of bad humor and extremely bad humor. It's hardly saved by the pleasure of watching one of my favorite actors, Jack Nicholson.
Anger management is a variation on pretty much every odd couple film ever produced, but one sticks out like a sore thumb. This movie totally reminded me of Analyze This (Also Analyze That), which also had a comedian playing the roll of a somewhat normal person (Billy Crystal) and a respected actor playing the roll of a lunatic (Robert De Niro). Sandler plays his normal character, while Nicholson plays the roll of a well known and respected person who could do something weird or down right insane at any moment in the film.
The overall message of this film is that having patience goes a long way. Throughout the film Nicholson mentally tormented Adam Sandler by following him everywhere and eventually taking his girlfriend away from him. However, Sandler remained somewhat calm and did not try to assault Nicholson after all of the things that he went through with him. Finally, Sandler, Nicholson and Marisa Tomei (the girlfriend) end up at a New York Yankees game and Sandler proposes to his girlfriend while Nicholson gives him a thumbs up and walks away. It turned out that all of the "torment" was planned from the start just to make Sandler become a better and more patient person ... oh yeah, and to get him married.
I agree tenfold. The movie was really irritating to watch because Sandler's character was patient from the start. I get that Nicholson's character was trying to say that Sandler's character had bottled up anger, but Nicholson's antics did nothing to help Sandler, rather spark up bitter old rivalries (Buddhist Interactions) and almost ruined Sandler's relationship. The only noticeable difference by the end of the movie was Sandler's marriage, but Sandler's initial relationship flaws could have been fixed in a much healthier and progressive way. Sandler's characters had really bad insecurities about admitting love, and it shouldn't have taken Nickolson's crusty anger to provoke Sandler to say "I love you"
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that Jack Nicholson is not a comedian and should not be forced to make these bad jokes. There was a lot of forced comedy and the movie didn't do a good job of really making the audience feel attached to the characters. This film was not one of Sandlers best films, it was just another one of those cheesy dumb film that seems like it was made for a younger audience with adult humor.
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