LYCOS RETRIEVER 
The Upside of Anger: Joan Allen
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In Mike Binder's The Upside of Anger, Costner plays yet another over-the-hill sports paragon, a retired Detroit Tigers star named Denny Davies who coasts through his days in a genial haze of booze and faded celebrity. Denny, who hosts a talk-radio show in which he likes to ramble on about everything but his glory days, keeps the money flowing in by signing baseballs and showing up to open the occasional mall. It's a living, of sorts, but not quite a life, and no one knows that better than Denny. That's why he's eager to hook up with Terry (Joan Allen), a battle-scarred suburban housewife with a big woodsy colonial home, four beautiful daughters (and I do mean beautiful — they're played by Erika Christensen, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt, and Evan Rachel Wood), and a husband who has apparently run off with his secretary. Gulping Grey Goose cocktails before noon, Terry is as big a lush as Denny, but more than that, the two fit together. They're drinking buddies and dissolute soul mates; it's up to Denny to show her that they could be more.
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The Upside of Anger is a change of pace for Joan Allen, a gifted actress whose previous works — notably The Ice Storm, The Contender [A]nd Nixon — consisted of portraying repressed, emotionally remote characters. By contrast, Anger's Terry Ann Wolfmeyer is anything but demure. After her husband apparently skips off to Europe to shack up with a Swedish secretary, Terry finds herself pissed at the world and balancing an SUV-sized chip on her shoulder. And it leaves this affluent Michigan housewife at home alone to cope with four beautiful daughters, with whom she fights over everything from their chosen careers to chosen boyfriends.
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[R]eceiving a release after a delay of almost a year, "The Upside of Anger" is a delightful comedy–drama with a terrific ensemble cast. Written and directed by Mike Binder ("Reign Over Me"), the film stars Joan Allen as Terry, the mother of four gorgeous daughters (Alicia Witt, Erika Christensen, Keri Russell and Evan Rachel Wood), who hits the bottle in anger after her husband unexpectedly disappears. Terry has enough problems with her daughters‘ various romantic entanglements but then her booze–loving, ex–baseball star neighbour (Kevin Costner as Denny Davies) starts hitting on her.
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The Upside of Anger is not your average chick flick. It is an acutely and sometimes absurdly funny film set deep in the heart of an abandoned American family in the suburbs. Joan Allen (Pleasantville, The Bourne Supremacy) and Kevin Costner (Open Range, Bull Durham) spearhead the cast which has more female acting talent in it than Steel Magnolias did back in 1989.
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There's a scene in The Upside of Anger when Terry Wolfmeyer (Joan Allen) walks into her daughter's bedroom to find Andy, the second of her four daughters, under the covers with Andy's boss. The boss, "Shep," is easily twice Andy's age—and just happens to be this movie's writer and director, Mike Binder. There isn't any dialogue, per se, but the series of facial contortions and exasperated shrieks that follows and culminates in Terry storming out of the room leaves Andy (Erika Christensen) with no doubt as to her mother's opinion on the situation. Andy slumps back on her pillow while Shep, in sleepy bewilderment, says something to effect of "Wow, that was intense."
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The Upside of Anger is a 2005 drama/comedy/romance written and directed by Mike Binder. Set in the Detroit area, it stars Joan Allen, Kevin Costner and Evan Rachel Wood amongst others. It received a 72% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
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