From Something’s Gotta Give to Love Actually, there has been a fantastic reinvention of the bitter-sweet, slightly dark, romantic comedy, where characters isolated in seemingly impossible situations are helped by other fairly hopeless characters to find an ‘imperfect’ resolution.

The Upside Of Anger exemplifies this genre with three time Oscar nominee Joan Allen (already being touted for her work in this film for a fourth), is paired with a boozy, loose Kevin Costner in a movie ridden with subplots that you don’t get lost in.

Reviewer Kelly Borgeson described it rather feelinglessly with: “When her husband vanishes Terry Wolfmeyer (Joan Allen) is left alone to bring up their four daughters (Erika Chrietensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell and Alicia Witt). Enter her handsome if immature neighbour (Kevin Costner), a former baseball star who’s looking to shake his midlife slump. Mike Binder of HBO’s The Mind Of the Married Man, writes, directs, and costars.”

More fulsome is Steve Wicking who says, “The sight of two lost souls finding something unavoidably necessary in each other carries The Upside of Anger through it’s pleasant episodic drift. When Terry realises her husband won’t be coming home again, she hits the skids and the bottle, leaving her four daughters to fend for themselves while she fends off the attentions of concerned neighbour Denny Davies. Writer/director Mike Binder (who has a good bit as Costner’s sleazy producer on a radio show) juggles subplots in this comedy/drama, with his charming young actresses. But the two leads do career-best turns: If you’ve given up hope on Costner, you’ll be surprised by his shaggy dog appeal as a perpetually soused radio show host/faded ex-baseball star, while Allen’s boozy, brittle performance is so remarkable even her comic drunkenness is nuanced.”

Tom Brook said, “Actress Joan Allen often exhibits a poised elegance in her roles, but now she’s breaking the mold a bit with The Upside of Anger, a bittersweet comedy drama. She says, ‘I think the girls are handling it much better than their mother. They have each other at least and can talk to each other, but the mom is just really thrown completely by this loss and is very, very angry about the whole thing.’”

Terry’s anger in the film is balanced by the presence of Costner’s character Denny. He’s a retired baseball player with a less than successful radio talk-show.” Costner found his life reflected in the role when he confessed, “It’s a really personal movie. I’ve lived in divorce myself, and so I recognise a lot that’s going on here. It’s just told in such an entertaining, heartfelt, but also punch you in the stomach kind of feelings.”

Other critics have found the subplots as several too many and the end terribly wrapped by one daughter doing a saccharine, suburban narration about life, but watching Allen and Costner mix and match is worth the minute long pep pop pap at the end. Director Binder acts as a sleaze ball on Viagra producer, there’s a wedding, two pregnancies a funeral and even bungee jumping. I enjoyed it as did the critic who said, “Response to the film itself has been a bit more mixed. While its direction is said to be mediocre, the script has been labelled well-observed and witty. At this point many critics agree, the film’s acerbic drama of a dysfunctional suburban family is entertaining.”