This contemporary drama is about romance between two imperfect, alcoholic, resentful ordinary people, neighbors in the suburbs, adults with enough money to support themselves in the discontent to which they have become accustomed. Terry Wolfmeyer, suburban Detroit mother of four girls, is suddenly abandoned by her husband, and sinks into depression and subsists on a steady diet of vodka tonics. Denny Davies, retired baseball player, is a flabby, lackadaisical sports talk radio host who is bored by sports and talk. He prods her into being his drinking buddy, and their tenuous friendship grows more intimate. The four daughters have sized up the situation and are getting on with their lives in their own ways, mostly competently. Together, Terry and Denny find out how much a waste of time and effort anger is, along the road to the transformations that can happen when dealing with its aftermath.
MPAA rating: R; for language, sexual situations, brief comic violence and some drug use.|||adult
New Line Cinema presents in association with Media 8 Entertainment a VIP Medienfonds 2/VIP Medienfonds 3/MDP Filmproduktion production, a Sunlight production ; produced by Alex Gartner, Jack Binder, Sammy Lee ; written and directed by Mike Binder.
Special features: Deleted scenes [with optional commentary] (11 min.); Feature commentary with director Mike Binder and Joan Allen, moderated by filmmaker Rod Lurie [audio feature]; Creating "The Upside of Anger" [featurette] (30 min.); Theatrical trailer (2 min.); More from New Line [previews] (10 min.); DVD-ROM online features [requires a DVD-ROM drive and Internet access].
Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt, Mike Binder.
Director of photography, Richard Greatrex ; art director, Tim Stevenson ; editors, Steve Edwards, Robin Sales ; music, Alexandre Desplat ; costume designer, Deborah Scott ; production designer, Chris Roope.
DVD; Region 1; Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, DTS surround, Stereo surround; widescreen presentation preserving the 2.35:1 aspect ratio of its theatrical exhibition.
English dialogue, English or Spanish subtitles; closed-captioned.
