The Upside of Anger

Joan Allen stars here as a forty-something mother of four grown or nearly grown daughters, struggling to cope after her husband's recent walkout, supposedly with his Swedish secretary. Finding a drinking buddy in neighbour Costner, a washed up baseball star turned talk radio host, she tries to hold her family together while doing a not very good job of resisting Costner's advances. What we get is a fairly inconsequential romantic drama with several bitterly funny scenes, anchored by the stellar performances of its supremely experienced leading couple. Allen impresses in a showy role where she gets to yell and cry and act drunk, but Costner is even more of a delight, having matured from a superstar into a hugely watchable character actor with a really nice line in middle aged grouches. [Paul Greenwood]