Anger Management

Plot

In 1978 Brooklyn, Dave Buznik is humiliated when local bully Arnie Shankman interrupts his first kiss by pantsing him. Twenty-five years later, the mild-mannered Dave works as a secretary for a mean-spirited boss named Frank while dating Linda. His lingering trauma leaves him unable to show affection publicly, a problem exacerbated by his arrogant co-worker Andrew, who is close to Linda and hopes to rekindle their past romance.

During a flight, Dave's frustration with a flight attendant is misinterpreted as rage. The sky marshal tasers him, and he is sentenced to anger management under therapist Dr. Buddy Rydell, who happened to sit next to him on the plane. However, Dave finds himself surrounded by far more volatile clients in a group therapy session, and his sentence is extended after he accidentally injures a waitress while defending himself during a bar fight. Dave faces a prison sentence, but Buddy proposes continuous live-in therapy as a "radical" alternative. Buddy moves into Dave's apartment and accompanies him everywhere, deploying unorthodox techniques that push Dave toward passive-aggressive behavior.

Buddy becomes infatuated with Linda after seeing her photo and arranges situations that test Dave's boundaries, including a forced performance of "I Feel Pretty" in traffic and an encounter with a cross-dressing prostitute. After Dave fabricates a medical emergency involving Buddy's mother, Buddy retaliates by arranging for Dave to be seduced by a former patient. Buddy also engineers a reunion with the adult Arnie, now a Buddhist monk. After Arnie laughs when reminded of the pantsing incident, Dave and Buddy provoke a physical fight that finally allows Dave a measure of revenge. Linda, following Buddy's advice, announces a trial separation so Dave can focus on improving his attitude. When Dave discovers Buddy is dating her, he attacks him and is hit with a restraining order. At the office, upon learning that Andrew has been promoted into the position he had expected, Dave punches Andrew and trashes Frank's office.

Learning from Andrew that Buddy has taken Linda to a New York Yankees game, Dave assumes Buddy intends to propose to Linda and races to the stadium. Making his way onto the field, he publicly declares his willingness to change, kisses Linda in front of the crowd, and proposes. Linda accepts, then reveals the ordeal to have been an elaborate set-up. Linda collaborated with Buddy after reading his book, and most of the people involved, including the security guards and New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (who intervened for Dave), were participants in Buddy's plan to force Dave to confront his fear and assert himself. At a barbecue celebrating Dave's "graduation", a final threat from an armed man whose car Buddy had earlier destroyed turns out to be Dave's own prank, and the group sings "I Feel Pretty".

Cast

Adam Sandler as David "Dave" Buznik

Jonathan Osser as Young Dave Buznik

Jack Nicholson as Dr. Buddy Rydell

Marisa Tomei as Linda

Luis Guzmán as Lou

Allen Covert as Andrew

Lynne Thigpen as Judge Brenda Daniels

Woody Harrelson as Galaxia the prostitute/Gary the Security Guard

John Turturro as Chuck

Kurt Fuller as Frank Head

Jonathan Loughran as Nate

Krista Allen as Stacy

January Jones as Gina

Clint Black as Masseur

Kevin Nealon as Sam, Dave's Lawyer

Nancy Carell as Patty the Flight Attendant

John C. Reilly (uncredited) as Arnie Shankman / Pana Kamanana

Alan James Morgan as Young Arnie Shankman

Heather Graham (uncredited) as Kendra

Harry Dean Stanton (uncredited) as Blind Man

Isaac C. Singleton Jr. as Air Marshal

Stephen Dunham as Maitre d'

Reception

Box office

Anger Management was number one at the box office on its opening weekend, April 11–13, 2003, earning $42.2 million. The film surpassed Big Daddy (1999) and Batman (1989) to have the highest opening weekend for both an Adam Sandler film and a Jack Nicholson film. It also had the highest April opening weekend, beating out The Scorpion King (2002). It earned a total of $135.6 million in the U.S. with a total worldwide box office of $195.7 million.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, Anger Management has a 42% approval rating based on 191 reviews, with an average score of 5.1/10 and a consensus: "Though not without its funny moments, Anger Management is ultimately stale and disappointingly one-note, especially considering its capable cast." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100 based on 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert for the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "The concept is inspired. The execution is lame. Anger Management, a film that might have been one of Adam Sandler's best, becomes one of Jack Nicholson's worst." Caroline Westbrook for Empire magazine thought "A better script and more attention to other cast members would have helped but, as it stands, this is still the best Adam Sandler comedy since The Wedding Singer." William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave the film a D, describing it as "a perfectly dreadful affair that makes no sense, has almost no good laughs and finally just sinks like a rock in a Beverly Hills swimming pool."

TV series adaptation

A television series based loosely on the film premiered on June 28, 2012, starring Charlie Sheen in the role originated by Jack Nicholson, though not sharing the same name. The series was Sheen's first acting role since his firing from the hit CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men on March 7, 2011, after eight seasons. The show was produced by the film's producer Joe Roth, and was broadcast on FX in the United States, CTV in Canada and on TBS in Latin America for two seasons, totalling 100 episodes before it was cancelled.