Okay, so I admit it: I’ve always been a fan of Kevin Costner. While I haven’t always loved his movies, I think, in every role he plays, he brings a quirky down-to-earth quality to his characters that few other leading men can match. And so, The Upside of Anger was quite a treat for me because it seems to have Costner at his peculiar best. But, before you dismiss my opinion as the biased view of a Kevin Costner fan, I must report that one of my companions at the movie was a former anti-Costner-ite, but she came out of the movie saying: “Is it just me, or has Kevin Costner become a much better actor?”

The Upside of Anger has Costner playing a retired baseball star Denny Davies who infiltrates the Wolfmeyer family starring mother Terry (Joan Allen) and four daughters. The family is in the middle of suffering from the aftermath of their father suddenly vanishing apparently to Sweden with a new girlfriend. The anger that is to have an upside, then, is mostly Terry’s as she’s a fair bit disappointed in her husband. Meanwhile, as the movie progresses, she has various anger-filled disagreements with her daughters, which in turn has Costner’s character smirking with amusement at the non-stop tension in the household.

There is a love story between the two leads, but it is not the focal point of the movie. Instead, it is snuck in amongst the plot, which focuses with a humorous eye on Terry’s anger and her somewhat inept attempts to get her daughters to do as she wants. The daughters, meanwhile, are nicely defined as four different characters instead of one four-headed child. And, even more unusually realistic, the mother seems to have a slightly different relationship with each of her offspring.

Although, for my popcorn money, the movie does stray from realism a little, as the daughters appear to be only a little affected by the fact their formerly loving father seems to have deserted them. Instead, their only disappointment seems to be on their mother’s behalf. Not to worry, Terry has enough anger for all of them as she verbally and occasionally physically beats up anyone who comes near her path. The character is so extreme that, in the hands of a less skillful actress, her non-stop anger may have been too much to take, but Joan Allen plays it with subtlety and timing that was riveting to my eye.

The movie concludes with a bit of a twist, which, to my and my companions’ view, was too far-fetched, but this did not detract from our overall enjoyment of the movie. It was at times insightful and at many other times very funny. And so, even if you don’t think you’re a Kevin Costner fan, I recommend giving this movie at try.