Anger Management on DVD

How can one resist the pairing of Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson?

Normally, we'd say it's easy, because the only film in which we ever liked Nicholson was "As Good As It Gets," but even we had to admit to the possibilities of Adam Sandler's well-meaning weenie characters and Nicholson's scenery chewing.

And you know what? It works, for the most part.

Oh, that doesn't mean Anger Management is a great movie. It isn't. It isn't even one of Sandler's best. But it's okay, a worthwhile time spent in the home theater.

Sandler is Dave Buznik, a seemingly mild mannered business man who is sent into anger management therapy after not losing his temper on an airplane flight.

Not losing his temper?

Indeed. He's really railroaded and too much of a milquetoast to fight back. Besides, if he fights back it proves their case against him...

Through a series of events, he ends up under the care of "Anger Management" guru and media darling Dr. Buddy Rydell (Nicholson). This treatment involves Dr. Buddy living with Dave 24/7 and basically driving him nuts.

There's plenty of potential here....

But perhaps it looked better in script form, because for some reason the movie just doesn't really work - and it should!

Oh, there are some good scenes, including Dave's encounter with a Buddhist monk who used to bully him years ago, and there's the usual cacophony of cameos (This time we get Heather Graham, Woody Harrelson, and Rudy Giuliani, among others), but for every good moment there's another one that just doesn't make you laugh.

And then, the ending really blows the film apart! We won't spoil it (let it spoil it for itself), but it involves Sandler's girlfriend, a wonderful role for Marisa Tomei except for the writing. It's a happy ending indeed, but give us a break!

Rats! It's such a good concept and we didnt' even hate Nicholson here; he's well cast and his scenery chewing is actually appropriate. Sandler is good as the straight man, too, and we really liked Tomei, other than the script problems which aren't her fault.

The DVD's pretty good, though you should be warned that Columbia Tristar is inflicting separate anamorphic widescreen and Pan&Scan versions on the market rather than putting them into one box. We got the anamorphic widescreen one, fortunately, and it's good.

The picture quality is really good. It's nice and clean, with no grain or anything, and good color. Audio, which is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, is good, but nothing to write home about. There's decent use of the front channels, but very little surround.

You do get plenty of extras, however. First up is a running commentary by Adam Sandler and director Peter Segal. There's also a blooper reel, four deleted scenes, a featurettes "My Buddy Jack" and "Skull Session. And there's also a little set top game "Do You Have Anger Problems." It's cheaper than hiring a shrink...

Anger Management, from Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment
106 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1, 16x9 TV compatible)/Pan&Scan (SOLD SEPARATELY), Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
Starring Adam Sandler, Jack Nicholson, Marisa Tomei, Luiz Guzman, Woddy Harrelson and John Turturro
Produced by Joe Roth, Barry Bernardi, John Jacobs, Jack Giarraputo, Todd Garner, Derek Dauchy
Written by David Dorfman, Directed by Peter Segal

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