******************* SPOILERS *******************This is basically American Beauty 2.0. The gay dude, the unnecessary violence (except in this case it is real), the girl hooking with the older man....This is basically intended for mom's in their 50s who have very little taste for movies. This is story is not worthy of an adaptation, and even more disturbing is what are Allen and Costner doing in this picture.So Costner plays a mediocre plagiarism version of loser Crash Davis, same coat, same baseball player, same attitude in the beginning. Not exactly a well thought out script.Then, this story talks about nothing: it goes back into a flashback, with very little information on what is supposed to be the plot, but it turns out it talks about nothing, only a few sequences of sub plots that have no relation, it's very disorganized, way too tacky and cliché.I'm very disappointed in the outcome: so in the end, did he cheated ? Or did he just got trapped in the well ? What happened all that time ? And we don't even get an explanation, just that, that's where the father ex-husband was for x amount of time. I don't get it, it was the whole point of the movie, cheater abandons his family and there goes the drama: instead, it denies it. It's bland, skimpy, no intrigue, no character worth cheering for.

The Upside of Anger (2005): Dir: Mike Binder / Cast: Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Erika Christensen, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt: Excellent film about bitterness and the road to healing. Joan Allen plays the mother of four daughters who is bitter after her husband takes off with his secretary. Kevin Costner plays a radio DJ and former baseball star who lives nearby. Detailed screenplay on relationships while staying focused on central issues. One daughter is into gymnastics; another is engaged to be married; another discovers that her potential boyfriend is gay; and another lands a job on Costner's radio station where she becomes involved with a womanizer. Well directed by Mike Binder who also has a speaking part in the film. Joan Allen embodies her role with sarcasm mixed with alcohol with a great scene where she is to meet the parents of her daughter's fiancée. Costner is employing equal chemistry in one of his best performances. He seeks out a relationship with Allen in those hard core drinking evenings. Twist ending has Costner discover the real reasons for Allen's husband's absence. The daughters are well drawn but also add to the film's predictable subplots. They are played by Erika Christensen, Keri Russell, Evan Rachel Wood, and Alicia Witt and they are stunning. Bitter resentment is ugly but the message regards the calm after the storm. Score: 9 / 10

SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE.I can't understand anyone loving this movie. I can't understand the high rating it received.Her husband is gone, and the wife assumed he left her without saying a word. What about his car, or his usual means to get to work? What about his office? What about him not packing a suitcase, or taking a thing? She should have called the police to report his disappearance, in case he was somewhere injured -- which he was! Even if he wanted to hurt his wife in the worse way, there was no indication that he wanted to hurt his daughters that way.I hope the wife threw up because she realized what an idiot she'd been to assume he'd left her. I hope she's haunted by the idea that he might not have died instantly, that if she had called the police, and if they had investigated, he might have been found sooner, perhaps even alive. Even if he hadn't lived, maybe he could have said goodbye to his daughters.If I were the DA, I'd charge that idiot wife with something!

To begin with: fair play to Mike Binder. Trick with release dates: I saw two movies from him in the last two weeks, and I would go for a third in two weeks' time. Well written, well directed, well cast. I hope he'll stay on this track.No need to say anything about the story. Liked 'American Beauty'? Liked 'The Ice Storm'? Liked 'The Squid and the Whale'? Trust me, you're gonna like this too.Joan Allen haven't been so good since The Ice Storm. Well, she's never ever been so good! Although I have at least three American actresses in her two-years-of-age-radius, who I like more (Griffith, Hunter and Bening), but Griffith's voice would have been too sweet for the role, and the other two just had enough of the kind so far to put their fingers into something else.And the role of the shabby, beer-guzzling but big-hearted ex baseball pro is something descending stars would kill for. Now, again and more so: there are way many more actors around 50, who could have played this hands down. (Suspect Jeff Bridges could have played it without even reading the script;-) Still, you can't complain about Kevin Costner. What's more, you might start hoping his agent will dig up some more of the sort for him, and he will grow on you.The rest is all right, though E.R. Wood has to take a bigger step now, because I felt a bit like she made this and 'Running with Scissors' in a way of kill-two-birds-with-one-stone, without even changing her hat. But it's all right when she's just so cute, isn't it? I think when she comes of age, she'll surprise us with some more solid stuff, and won't disappear like Thora Birch or Dominique Swain.Turning back to Binder for one comparison: this movie was better than 'Reign Over Me'. The difference is in the way you can empathize with characters or not. Maybe I'm just a drinker myself, and it's speaks for it's due, but I like sarcastic and bitter people clinging on a bottle of vodka but knowing perfectly well their boundaries THAN people who can be charming in their strange ways but once they get knocked off balance and drink the best part of a bottle, they get so p**sed they feel the urge to take a stroll with a loaded gun...(I think Binder would cut that part out now, after Virginia Tech...)