Anger Management (2003)

Jack Nicholson plays a therapist the way a cat plays with a ball of yarn, and Adam Sandler is the yarn. That’s the joke, and Anger Management tells it for 106 minutes. Sandler’s Dave is a pushover who gets punished for a temper he barely has, which is a fun flip on Sandler’s usual shouting. Nicholson is clearly having a ball, wearing a grin that hints he knows something you don’t. The best scene strands Dave in a traffic jam on a bridge, where Buddy makes him belt out a show tune to calm down. The trouble is that the plot runs on a stack of coincidences, the last act turns into a sappy public proposal, and the big reveal explains away everything that was funny. It made $195.7 million worldwide on a reported $75M. A 4.4 because Nicholson’s grin carries a story held together with tape. $7,261 says you sing a show tune in traffic this week to calm down, and the driver next to you sees the whole thing.

What works: Nicholson’s sly, unpredictable Buddy and the bridge sing-along, which is easily the funniest scene in the movie.

What doesn’t: The plot leans on coincidence after coincidence, and the final reveal makes the whole story feel like a prank on the audience.

Who it’s for: Sandler fans who like him as the straight man, and anyone who wants to watch Jack Nicholson grin for most of a movie.