Title Directed by
Rating
Times Seen
Anger Management Peter Segal 4 1
     Anger Management was another of my "super cheap used DVD" purchases, bought at the same time as Dreamcatcher. I had arrived at the checkout at Blockbuster and was informed that if I bought another DVD, I'd get one at half price. Since I am always glad to be buying a DVD at the same price as a rental, I went to peruse the $9.99 films, and came across "Anger Management" a film neither Jenica nor I had seen. I knew it hadn't gotten great reviews, but I also knew that a movie about anger has good potential to be a film I'd pull a scene from.
    In that regard, I wasn't disappointed, but I'll save my thoughts on the way in which I think both this film and Dreamcatcher have a similar theme for after the actual review.
    My review: On the surface, I liked this movie - I laughed at Adam Sandler's reactions to Jack Nicholson, and for once, though I loathed his character, I didn't mind Jack being Jack. It really suited the film and it's apparent intention with his role. To be truthful, had this film not felt the need to swim in the sea of purility (note that I said puerility, not as in purity but as in puerile...to be juvenille or childish). This film is really aimed at adults, but keeps sinking to a locker room level with it's gutter humor and body part jokes. This could have been an intelligent comedy, but isn't. Still, it's neither one I'd tell people to stay away from, or for that matter, recommend it even as a rental. So in the end, I'm pretty much neutral about the film.
    My reflections: While both Dreamcatcher and Anger Management were both duds as movies, they both came out with a similar theme; trusting when you can't see the reasons why. In Dreamcatcher, this theme is expressed in the opening moments, when one of the characters mysteriously walks into heavy traffic and is struck by a car. He later reveals he had a vision of a childhood friend beckoning him to walk into traffic, and asks the question, "why would Duddits want me to get hit by a car?" By the end of the film, the reasons are clear; the character of Duddits somehow knew that it would be necessary for that character to have died once and come back.
     In Anger Management (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!) this idea of trusting the path, or the adage of "leap and the net will appear" is shown in the final moments of the film, where it is revealed that every ridiculous moment that Adam Sandler has endured (with the exception of being Tazered) has been the work of Jack Nicholson, performing radical anger management therapy. While Nicholson makes a terrible God-figure at any time, his character's relationship with Sandler's made me think of how we find it hard to trust what God is doing when hard times come upon us, and yet in the end, it is through trials that the Bible says God will bring out the best in us.
      James 1:2-3 tells us to "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." Likewise, 1 Peter 1:6-7 says, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." The refining process is a melting down - heating the metal to remove the imperfections, and essentially that is the process Sandler's character goes through, though he doesn't always know it, and rarely trusts Nicholson, who tells him he will need to trust.
    I can relate pretty strongly to Sandler's reactions to Nicholson as I have sometimes reacted in a similar fashion to God - getting along with Him when things are good, and lashing out when I can't see the end. In the midst of these times I am thankful for my days of scripture memory at camp, and for this verse that one director pounded into my memory; "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD , "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11) I can't always see the order of the day, but I am convinced that God knows it, and is orchestrating all things "for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

Movie Reviews - Anger Management

Legend
10
 This movie is in my "top 10 films" list.
9
 I laughed, I cried, I peed my pants because there was no good time to leave the theater.
8
 The kind of movie you see twice and tell all your friends about.
7
 Worth paying full admission for.
6
 Worth seeing.
5
 Could have waited for DVD.
4
 Should have waited for DVD.
3
 Even if I'd waited for the DVD I'd still feel cheated out of the rental price.
2
 If someone ever gives me this movie I'll use the DVD as a coaster.
1
 Kept watching because my arms were pinned and I couldn't claw my eyes out.
0
 Piece of crap.
WO
Walked out.