Movie Review: Prom (2011)

Year Produced: 2011
Director: Joe Nussbaum
Producers: Ted Griffin, Justin Springer
Writer: Katie Wech
Studio: Rickshaw Productions
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Language: English
Country of Origin: United States
Running Time: 104 minutes

Cast:
Aimee Teegarden as Nova Prescott
Thomas McDonnell as Jesse Richter
Yin Chang as Mei
Janelle Ortiz as Ali
Jonathan Keltz as Brandon
Nicholas Braun as Lloyd
Raini Rodriguez as Tess
DeVaughn Nixon as Tyler
Kylie Bunbury as Jordan
Danielle Campbell as Simone
Nolan Sotillo as Lucas
Cameron Monaghan as Corey
Jared Kusnitz as Justin
Jere Burns as Principal Dunnan
Joe Adler as Rolo

Synopsis/Plot/Storyline:



As the final year of high school approaches, the seniors are preparing for the one night they bid goodbye to their high school memories; Prom. Class President, Nova Prescott (Aimee Teegarden) was looking forward to prom night and perceives is as that 'one perfect moment which unites everyone', and worked hard in organizing the event along with her friends; Mei (Yin Chang), Ali (Janelle Ortiz), Rolo (Joe Adler) and Brandon (Jonathan Keltz). Nova was also hoping to be asked by Brandon; her longtime crush whom she had been classmates and shared many extracurricular activities, to be his date to the prom.


Most of the seniors were excited for the prom and as acts of asking their dates to the prom take place, there are also those who were having problems even finding a date. Lloyd (Nicholas Braun) was complaining to his stepsister, Tess (Raini Rodriguez) on how he was dreading to go to prom and Tess encouraged him to attend this last event so that people would remember his existence in the school and even urged him to find a date to the prom. Lloyd was having trouble, and started seeking out girls randomly to ask as his date to the prom. At the same time, Jordan (Kylie Bunbury) confronted her boyfriend, Tyler (DeVaughn Nixon) on an earring she found in his car and suspected him of cheating on her. However, Tyler assured her that it was all a misunderstanding and promised to ask her to the prom soon.



Sophomore Lucas (Nolan Sotillo) harbors a crush on Simone (Danielle Campbell), his lab partner and tries relentlessly to get her attention; with the help of his best friend, Corey (Cameron Monaghan) whom he slowly neglects over his attention to the girl.



Meanwhile, Nova reminds Mei, of her decision to go to design school in New York and that she should inform her longtime boyfriend, Justin (Jared Kusnitz) who was still assuming that they would be attending the university in Michigan together. At the same time, Nova was happy to see that most of the decorations and preparations ready for the event and was even more excited when Brandon asked to talk to her privately. Thinking that Brandon was definitely going to ask her to the prom together, she was disappointed when Brandon only wanted to carpool with her to go to the prom together earlier before the event starts as they are part of the committee and even confided in her that he did not think much of the big fuss about asking dates to the prom and that they should practise practicality.

That night, Tyler brought Jordan to the shedhouse which stored all the prom decorations and surprised her with the candles he had placed there for a romantic atmosphere to ask her officially to be his date for the prom as they are in the running for the prom king and queen.



After they left the shedhouse, Tyler forgot to blow out one candle and that ended up in a major fire which burnt down the whole shed, along with all the prom decorations. Nova arrived in dismay the next morning to watch all her work go to waste.
Determined to still proceed with the event, Nova was even more dismayed when all her friends were unable to help her anymore due to their more important commitments to prepare for their lives after graduation.
Highlighting her plight to Principal Dunnan (Jere Burns), the latter came up with his solution when he assigned school rebel, Jesse Richter (Thomas McDonnell) to help her out as part of the condition for him to graduate since his attendance record was not satisfying.


Nova was distraught to the idea; but had no choice except to work with Jesse's help who was just constantly at loggerheads with her. Nova learns from her father that Jesse's father was just like him; with an equally notorious reputation and that deepened her prejudice towards him.

 

Though they were initially at odds against each other, they soon learnt more about each other along the way and even found themselves enjoying each other's company.



As Nova starts to fall for the bad boy Jesse, she was starting to hope that he would ask her to be his date to the prom following Brandon's pullout from going to the prom with her due to his prioritization of his own interview with Princeton. Her conversation with her girl friends, Mei and Ali were overheard by her father, who worried about her future should she get further involved with Jesse and he went to the mart where he worked to confront and warn him to stay away from his daughter.

Jesse's sudden cold behavior puzzled Nova and she was even more hurt when she confessed her feelings for Jesse only to be returned with a negative remark that he never thought of her the same way. As prom approaches, Jordan broke up with Tyler due to his philandering ways and constant lies and the latter then turned to Simone to be his date to the prom. Simone tried to hide the invite from Lucas, but Lucas turned up at her window the night of the prom and was heartbroken to see Tyler arriving to pick her up. Although he pleaded with her not to go to the prom, she proceeded to leave with Tyler; and Lucas went to find his best friend, Corey to go for a band gig together. Jordan went to the prom alone and was applauded by most of the girls in the school who thought she was being really brave and unconventional. Nova at the same time seemed to have lost her spirits for the prom; the event that she had been looking forward to that prompted her parents' concern for her and upon hearing her distress, her father confessed that he had talked to Jesse earlier which led to Nova being upset with him for ruining her perfect night.

At prom, Simone realized that Tyler was just using her to show off to Jordan and the rest of the school and regretted not heeding Lucas's advice. When Tyler and Jordan were both announced as prom king and queen, Jordan refused to dance with him leaving Tyler to approach Simone. However, Simone too, turned him down and left to find Lucas whom she embraced and kissed finally at the gig. Tyler was left to dance alone on the dance floor. Mei was concerned about Nova's state when she just ignored the fact that the fountain had stopped working and even told them to just leave it. However, the said fountain was suddenly functional again and Nova turned to find that Jesse had appeared in a tuxedo; a pair which belonged to his father and he had come back to find Nova after being encouraged by his mother.



Nova smiled at him going back on his word, as he once said that the tuxedo was a symbol of conformity and he shrugged it off and danced with Nova and they ended up in an embrace and kiss on the dance floor.

Christy's Review:
A rather light-hearted teen flick which reminded me of the high school days and how it was like to be so young! Love the soundtrack and also the simple plot and the fun that the young teens were just having at the prime time of their lives.
The plot is definitely predictable so don't expect a lot when you are watching a teen flick like this.
I love the focus on friendship, puppy loves, decision making and also finding your own identities as highlighted in this movie; all in an hour plus.

My Verdict:
Not too bad, but this is simply a teen movie, nothing much and may be mushy and childish to some who have grown out of it.

Rating: 3.5/5

Movie Review: Just Married (2003)

Year Produced: 2003
Director: Shawn Levy
Producers: Robert Simonds, Lauren Shuler Donner
Writer: Sam Harper
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Running Time: 95 minutes
Language(S): English, Italian, German, French
Country of Origin: United States of America

Cast:
Ashton Kutcher as Tom Leezak
Brittany Murphy as Sarah McNerney then Sarah Leezak
Christian Kane as Peter Prentiss
David Moscow as Kyle
Monét Mazur as Lauren

The McNerneys
David Rasche as Mr. McNerney
Veronica Cartwright as Mrs. McNerney aka Pussy
Thad Luckinbill as Willie McNerney
David Agranov as Paul McNerney
Taran Killam as Dickie McNerney

The Leezaks
Raymond J. Barry as Mr. Leezak

Storyline/Plot/Synopsis:
The story starts with Tom and Sarah at the airport, fighting with each other all the way and Tom dropping Sarah at her home as a favor to her and crashing all the flower pots and statues in her house compound at the same time.
While Sarah ends up crying on the shoulder of her best friend, Lauren, Tom was back at home roughing it out with his best buddy, Kyle.

The story then flashes back to when Tom and Sarah first met; when Tom was playing football on the beach and Sarah was hit by the ball he threw in her direction while she was walking her dog. The two got acquainted with each other and soon started seeing each other, despite Sarah's wealthy family's objections to their relationship when Sarah brought Tom back to meet her parents.

Though it started on a bad impression, the family could not stop Sarah from marrying Tom in a traditional church ceremony, to which Sarah was happy to finally be with Tom.



However, Tom hid a secret from Sarah and vice versa; as Tom accidentally killed her dog while he was in her room and Sarah, at the same time, was trying to keep the incident of her sleeping with Peter once from Tom, who hates the sight of Peter.


On their wedding night, they saved their first night for the honeymoon as both were extremely exhausted after the wedding ceremony, but Sarah tried to drag Tom to the restroom on the plane to have sex. However, their attempts to join the mile high club failed and they even hurt the air stewardess who was constantly telling them to return to their seats due to the air turbulence when their door swung open into her face. Upon landing at the airport, Tom was upset to learn that they were given a small rental car; a lot smaller than what he originally requested for during his reservation.

While they were driving to their destination, Tom was complaining and when Sarah tells him to make a sharp turn at the very last minute, they both got down from the car, arguing but soon reconciled as they realized that they sounded like an old married couple.

Reaching their hotel, they were pleased with the excellent French hospitality and amazed with the beautiful suite they were given. However, Tom was a little annoyed when the concierge informed them of a bottle of wine given to them by Peter, congratulating them on their marriage, as Peter had been trying to pursue Sarah for years. In their suite, Tom found another gift from Kyle; which was a Thunderstick A-200; a sex toy which he was excited with and tried to plug it into the wall socket to charge immediately. Unheeding Sarah's objections, he forced the plug into the socket but it was not matching the European socket standards and thus caused power blackout in the hotel and the entire village. The hotel manager was furious with the couple as the establishment was started by his great grandparents and had never run into problems like these. Tom was furious with his attitude and the two exchanged words of anger whereby the manager kicked both Tom and Sarah out of the hotel.

Sarah was upset at not being able to enjoy the beautiful hotel and the two ended up staying inside their car for the night as their car lost control and derailed off the side of the road. Their car was covered with snow the next morning and the two got out and hitchiked a ride from a truck driver and ending up at Venice where they checked into a less than impressive pensione there.

However, they tried to make the best of the situation and attempted to make love but were freaked out by the cockcroaches and then, the two crashed the wall into another couple's room and it was then that they decided to move out of the pensione.


Despite Tom's objections, Sarah sought the help of her father to book them a luxurious hotel but her father reminded Tom to repay him the money as soon as possible.

Their honeymoon seems to be back on track when they set off for their sightseeing tour the next day; but it seemed that Tom was not interested in most of the architectures of attractive spots which Sarah enjoyed and agreeing to separate for their own interests in activities, the couple split into Sarah continuing her tour around major tourist spots and Tom hanging out at an American themed bar watching sports updates. Sarah returns to the hotel early and was surprised to find that Peter was also staying in the same hotel. Tom was furious to find out about Peter's presence and the two wound up in a heated argument in which Tom revealed that he accidentally killed her dog while Sarah also mentioned that she had slept with Peter once.
Shocked with the revelation from both sides, they both stormed out of the room and went on their separate ways again; with Tom ending up at the bar and Sarah on her sightseeing again; where she bumped into Peter.


Tom, on the other hand, was at the bar when he met a girl who flirted with him. Realizing that she wants sex, Tom tried to get out of the conversation by excusing himself to the toilet where he ends up climbing out of the window to escape back to the hotel. However, when he found out that Sarah was with Peter in the hotel, he stormed off in anger and bumped into the girl at the bar again. Trying to get away from her, he tried to offer sending her back to her hotel but unknowingly revealed his own hotel where the girl also claimed she was staying there. She followed him to his hotel room where she started taking off her clothes and got on top of him, while Tom was wriggling his best to get away from her and finally yelled that he was on his honeymoon with his wife, and she finally left.

Peter and Sarah went for a drink together and when he dropped her off at the hotel, he kissed her and was witnessed by Tom from their balcony. However, what Tom did not see was that Sarah slapped Peter and tells him that she is on her honeymoon. When Sarah reaches the room, Tom initiated an argument and accused Sarah of cheating on him with Peter, while Sarah was furious to discover a red bra in the room.


As the two was in their shouting match, Sarah threw an ashtray at Tom, injuring him on his forehead, and Peter barged into their argument, pulling Sarah to run away with him and fuelling Tom's anger to which he picked up a poker to threaten Peter, who ran off and had the hotel's staff to lodge a police report, and the couple ended up spending the night in jail. Peter bailed them out but the couple were too furious with each other and cut their honeymoon short, boarding the plane back to LA.
On their way back, the two continued their acts of vengeance against each other; especially Sarah who told the airport officials that Tom had drugs stuffed in his anus and ending up in him being searched.

When they reached LA; which was the beginning of the movie, the two separated ways but soon realized that they still loved each other very much and were both heartbroken with how they turned out. Tom was advised by his father, and after hearing his father's story, drove to Sarah's house to make amends with her, although the family and the maid refused entry to him.
However, Tom threatened to ram the gate with his car and then proceeded to declare his love for Sarah at the security circuit camera attached at the front gate which touched Sarah, and even her family as her father urged her to go after him and the couple reconciled with an embrace and kiss.

Christy's Review:
Simple and sweet storyline, and hilarious with the twist of events occurring on the disastrous honeymoon. Brittany Murphy was just so sweet as the young and promising bride while Ashton Kutcher was equally a adorable, making them such a lovely couple to watch and it was sad to see them parting, really. It was a very light-hearted movie filled with lots of drama, but eventually love conquered all, making this yet another heart-melting romantic comedy to be enjoyed by everyone.

Likes about the movie:
Scenes between Brittany and Ashton; their chemistry is amazing!


Dislikes about the movie:
Besides the bickering scenes, there should also be more romantic scenes to portray more of their fiery romance for each other although it is not lacking that much in the movie either.

Verdict:
Watch, for the sweet and lovely scenes between Brittany and Ashton which makes them such a desirable newly wed and is bound to make any newlywed or even longtime married folks enjoy the entertaining jokes from the disasters on their honeymoon.

Rating: 3/5

Movie Review: When A Stranger Calls (2006)

Year Produced: 2006
Director: Simon West
Producers: John Davis, Wyck Godfrey, Ken Lemberger
Writer: Jake Wade Wall
Studio: Davis Entertainment
Distributor: Screen Gems

Cast:
Camila Belle - Jill Johnson
Katie Cassidy - Tiffany Madison
Tessa Thompson - Scarlet
Brian Geraghty - Bobby
Clark Gregg - Ben Johnson
Derek De Lint - Dr. Mandrakis
Kate Jennings Grant - Kelly Mandrakis
Thomas Flanagan - The Stranger
David Denman - Officer Burroughs
Steve Eastin - Detective Hines
John Bobek - Officer Lewis
Arthur Young - Will Mandrakis
Madeline Carroll - Alison Mandrakis

Synopsis/Plot/Storyline:
A babysitter and the kids she is apparently taking care of were found brutally murdered in the house in town. The police arrived at the scene, and the detective in charge was found to be showing a grave expression when he saw the bodies; which indicates that they were found in a very gruesome way.


The scene shifts to a town in Florida, where teenager Jill Johnson (Camila Belle) was seen running around in laps in the gym, practising for her track record while her boyfriend, Bobby (Brian Geraghty) watches from his basketball practice taking place below.
Jill was going through a tough time; with her running practices and dealing with her fight and break up with Bobby, whom she caught kissing with her best friend, Tiffany (Katie Cassidy).
To add to her problems, she had also overused the credit limit on her cell phone, landing her in a phone bill debt and angering her father, Ben Johnson (Clark Gregg). To pay for her bill, her father found her a babysitting job with an acquaintance, Dr Mandrakis (Derek De Lint) who lived out of town.

Jill reluctantly accepted the job, although she really did not have a choice and that meant that she will have to miss out on the high school's bonfire night, much to the disappointment of her friend, Scarlet (Tessa Thompson). However, as Jill was grounded due to her phone bill, her dad drove to the outskirts to a pristine and luxurious mansion by the lakeside which was the residence of the Mandrakis and the place where she will be babysitting for the night.


Jill was in awe of the beautiful mansion and assured her father that she will be alright on her own.

She met Dr Mandrakis and his wife, Kelly (Kate Jennings Grant) who showed her around the house and left her with the emergency contact numbers for the night before they leave for their romantic night out.

The kids were already sleeping upstairs, and Jill was informed of the existence of a maid, Rosa, who stays on the third floor and also of their wandering college son, who occasionally comes home unannounced and stays in a house outside of the mansion.
Before leaving, Dr Mandrakis wrote down the code for their house alarm and activated the alarm system.



Feeling initially bored, Jill then decided to do a little exploring on her own around the house and was thrilled with the spectacular design of the house, and even tried on some of Mrs Mandrakis jewelry in her room. However, startled by noises, she rushes out of the room and was checking out for intruders, with a poker in her hand, and was relieved when she found Rosa feeding the birds and fish in the zen-like aviary in the middle of the house.
Returning to her spot on the couch, she starts getting phone calls where there was silence on the other end.

Dismissing them as prank calls, Jill was annoyed when the calls kept coming in.
When she got a call from her boyfriend Bobby who was at the bonfire, she asked whether it was him but the line was unclear and got disconnected.


The quiet surroundings and also the huge space in the house started to creep Jill out, and she was startled when her best friend, Tiffany turned up at the house.

Not wanting to ruin her job, Jill made Tiffany left and surprised when she was informed that the garage door was open which enabled Tiffany to get into the house, Jill then closed all the doors and made sure they were locked. Tiffany, on the other hand, was spooked as well as she tried to get out of the house in what appears to be a storm coming when she was held back by a log. As Tiffany got out of her car, she was seen to be attacked.


Elsewhere, the phone calls were becoming more and more frequent, and though the caller was silent in the initial phone calls, he is already starting to talk, asking Jill to check on the children. Jill starts to worry about the phone calls, and called the police.

However, Jill then thought it was okay but started to be alarmed once again when the caller informed Jill that she is being watched and in a panic, she grabs the phone and called the police again.

The police then told her to keep the caller on the phone at least for a minute for more so that they would be able to trace the call.

Jill waits for the caller to call her again, and at the same time, spotted a shadow in the guest house located outside the mansion. She rushes to the guest house, and was terrified when she received a phone call inside the guest house. Although she managed to keep him on the line for a minute, it was no use as he had called the guest house's line whereas the police had tapped into the main mansion's phone line. Spotting a light being turned on inside the main mansion, Jill rushes back to the house and turned on the alarm and the phone started ringing again. Picking up the phone, it was the caller again and Jill tried to keep him on the line for more than a minute again; which she succeeded. She then received the next phone call from the police who informed her that the calls were coming from inside the house!

Horrified, Jill tries to search for the caller within the house and was shocked to find Tiffany's dead body in the bathroom upstairs. It was then that she was attacked by someone which she managed to escape. She wakes and gets the kids out of their bedroom and rushes to the aviary to hide, and discovering Rosa's body inside the fish pond.


The man manages to break into the aviary/greenhouse, but Jill succeeded in locking him inside the place.

Letting the kids out of the house, Jill runs away from the man who had escaped from the greenhouse and when he tried to grab hold of her, Jill stabbed him with the poker she earlier had and runs away from him.
The police had arrived and grabbed Jill into their arms, while the man was caught.
Apparently, he was the same man who murdered the other babysitter in the other side of the town and may be a serial killer targetting babysitters.

Jill awoke in the hospital to her phone ringing, but she refused to pick it up; afraid that it was her assailant again. When she finally picks up the phone, she sees a man behind her trying to attack her again; to which she screams and she awakes. Apparently she was having a bad dream and the next scene; the final one sees doctors trying to grab hold of her to calm her down as she appears to be panicking frantically.

Christy's Review:
Camila Belle was beautiful and the house was fantastic, and though I do like the suspense that built up throughout the movie, but that was it. There was absolutely nothing much substantial in the movie plot, honestly, as it was just like a man who was calling Jill and then he attacks her. It was like watching scenes replaying in front of you, and then, it ends and you are left sitting there, "What was that all about?"
Yeah, that was exactly how I felt. Seriously, I could not comprehend the heads or tails or even why this movie was made in the first place.
It was based on an urban legend about a man who stalks and kills babysitters and children and the movie just adapted loosely based on that famous legend.
However, to me, without a solid foundation to the story and adding a little bit more of imagination to create a convincing plot, it is just cheap thrills.
I found myself getting all worked up to a suspense, but for no reason. Okay, maybe I am one who looks for logic and reason for everything; I mean, there must be a reason that the man went berserk and stalks babysitters and children, right, no matter how psychotic he is.
Even if he was a crazy man, there should be a little more light shed especially at the end of the movie instead of assuming that everyone knows what is behind the killer's mind. We are not all psychotic.
Nevertheless, the suspense created in the movie was quite engaging, but really, it could be much better had it a sound plot.

Likes about the movie:

Camila Belle, definitely, a perfect doe-eyed and pretty little teenager who just made the whole movie an enjoyable watch. Oh, there is that house; who doesn't love that impeccably-designed mansion by the lakeside?

Dislikes about the movie:
Loose adaptation and nothing substantial or interesting about the plot. Felt like watching a kid's movie.

Verdict:
Not too bad of a watch if you are into thrill and suspense, but if you are looking for storyline and reasons like me, then not really.

Rating: 3/5

Movie Review: Anger Management (2003)

Year Produced: 2003
Director: Peter Segal
Executive Producer: Adam Sandler
Producer(s): Allen Covert, Jack Giarraputo, Tim Herlihy
Writer: David S. Dorfman
Studio: Studio Revolution Studios, Happy Madison
Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Cast:
Adam Sandler - Dave Buznik
Jack Nicholson - Dr. Buddy Rydell
Marisa Tomei - Linda
Luis Guzman - Lou
Allen Covert - Andrew
Lynne Thigpen - Judge Brenda Daniels
Krista Allen - Stacy
January Jones - Gina
Kurt Fuller - Frank Head
John Turturro - Chuck
Woody Harrelson - Galaxia/Gary
Kevin Nealon - Sam

Synopsis/Plot/Storyline:
In the year 1978, Dave Buznik was about to kiss the girl of his dreams for the first time, following a game of truth or dare with the girl, Sarah, when he had his pants pulled down by a local public in front of public. Dave was openly humiliated and laughed at by the crowd, and this incident left a long term effect on Dave's life, emotions and relationship.

In the present; 25 years later, Dave Buznik (Adam Sandler) is a grown up man who is working in New York City for a abusive boss, Frank, who always takes credits for his work. Dave has a loving girlfriend, Linda (Marisa Tomei) whom he confides in, but Linda worries about Dave being constantly bullied and wishes that he will stand up for himself once in a while.

At the same time, Linda's best guy friend and admirer, Andrew (Allen Covert), was constantly and openly showing his affections for Linda and yet Dave did not react, as he did not want to cause a scene.

Dave was then sent on an assignment and he boarded a plane where he found his seat already taken by somebody else. Although Dave was rather annoyed, he tried to hide it well by reasoning with the guy but the guy just refused to change his seat and even told Dave to sit elsewhere. It was then that another guy at the back of the plane beckoned to Dave and he took that seat.
During his flight, he was trying to catch up on his sleep but to no avail as he was constantly disturbed by the guy, named Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson), who kept telling him that the movie he was watching was really hilarious and urged him to put on his headset and watch the same movie together. Dave gave in when he realized that he is not getting his sleep, he requested for his headset from the air stewardess. However, he felt a little impatient when he noticed that the flight attendants were chatting but yet did not bother to bring him his headset. When the flight attendant walked past him again, he brushed against her but was mistaken as trying to assault her, and the air marshal appears, trying to take control of the situation.

However, Dave was being tried in court for assaulting and inflicting injury on the flight attendant, and he was sentenced to 20-hours anger management therapy session. When Dave turned up for his session, he was surprised to see that the therapist was actually the guy who sat next to him on the plane; Dr. Buddy Rydell. He asked Buddy to help him out by signing him off for the sessions when he will only attend one session. Buddy, however, refused but tried to coax him into the first session to see how he will go from there.
Dave meets bizarre and violent characters in the therapy patients such as Lou (Luis Guzman), Nate (Jonathan Loughran), Chuck (John Turturro), and a pair of sexy yet eccentric porn star girls, Stacy (Krista Allen) and Gina (January Jones).

Buddy pushed Dave to share about himself, to the extent that Dave finally shouted in the class.
At the end of the class, Buddy decides that Dave needs to continue his sessions, and even assigns him a partner; Chuck, who was a a violent guy and scares Dave, much to his displeasure.

Dave and Chuck went out for a drink at a bar, where Chuck, starts a fight with a man sitting at the bar counter and Dave, trying to calm down everyone ends up accidentally hitting the waitress with the walking stick he took away from a blind man. He ends up in a court again and meets the same judge again; Judge Brenda Daniels (Lynne Thigpen) who clearly not pleased with his recurring offence and orders him to intensive therapy treatment or face jail, after Buddy negotiates with her.

Buddy then moves in to stay with Dave, claiming that he needs the intensive therapy/treatment and to accomplish that, Buddy will need to understand his daily behaviors and habits.

Buddy shares his bed, and even orders Dave about, annoying him to no end but Dave was still maintaining his cool.

Then Buddy followed Dave to work, and while driving in the car, he forced Dave to stop his car in the middle of the bridge and caused massive traffic jam, with most of the drivers driving past them, cursing.

Inside the car, Buddy taught Dave to sing a "I Feel Pretty' song. Buddy then instructs Dave to go to a street where they pick up a transvetite, Galaxia, and offers to pay him to just sit with Dave and talk to him. Dave was terrified and yelled at Galaxia to get out of the car. It was then that Buddy explained that he can progress in the next level in the program as he has learnt about righteous anger.


Dave then received a phone call from Boston about Buddy's mum who was undergoing surgery and lied to Buddy, who took it seriously. When Buddy learns that it was not that serious, he told Dave he will get him back for that. He insisted that Dave joins him on his road trip to Boston.

In Boston, Buddy taught Dave to seduce a girl (Heather Graham) using a lame pick up line and to Dave's surprise, she fell for it and even followed Dave home. When Dave refused to sleep with her, she burst into anger and kicked him out of the house, and Dave screamed at her in return outside the house.

As they were returning from Boston, Buddy instructed Dave to drive to a monastery where he is to confront his childhood bully, Arnie Shankman, who is now a Buddhist monk. Their confrontation ended up in a fight as Dave lost his temper and learns about righteous anger.

Then Dave was surprised when Linda told him that she was advised by Buddy to separate from him, and Dave confronted Buddy who told him that it was essential to make Linda realize how good Dave was after dating some lousy guys. Convinced, Dave also decided to play along by asking the two porn star girls, Stacy and Gina to help to pretend as his dates and he found out that Linda's new date was actually none other than Buddy himself. Furious, he confronted Buddy once again, but was coaxed into believing that Buddy would portray a bad guy image to make Linda realize the good guy in Dave.
However, Buddy soon told him that he and Linda had fallen for each other, and Dave then hit him in anger.

Dave ended up in court again, where he was ordered on restraint to stay away from Buddy and Linda. Upset, he follows them to the Yankees game after hearing that they will there that night, and finally mustering his courage, he runs to the middle of the field, and tried to use the microphone to confess his feelings and propose to Linda but was pulled away by the authorities.
However, the Mayor (Rudy Giulani) gives him a chance and orders him to finish what he was saying and then Dave proposed to Linda, who agrees but only if Dave kisses her in front of everyone there.

Then Linda showed Dave the score board which reads a congratulatory message from Buddy on their proposal.

Linda then reveals to Dave that the whole thing was orchestrated by her, after reading a book on anger management by Dr. Buddy Rydell. She sought his help to treat Dave, whom she thinks has been suppressing his feelings far too much and that he will need to learn to express himself.
Then a man came to the group, threatening that he was the owner of the car which crashed when Buddy reversed his car and he held them at gunpoint. Dave then stepped in front of Buddy, and shared what he had learnt from Buddy to calm the man down.
The man then pointed his gun at Dave's head and squirts water, and the group burst out laughing, with Buddy reminding Dave that he had mentioned he will get him back for his joke on Buddy's mother and everyone broke into singing "I Feel Pretty".


Christy's Review:
I do admit feeling that the whole movie centering on the topic of Anger Management did confuse me a little, and got me thinking, "Is this the right movie?"
Sure, there were moments of absurdity which cracks one up, but there are moments of frustration at the direction of the movie. It is like watching a car driving in a wayward direction; and then derailed completely. Yes, the movie gave me that feeling.

It was revealed in the end that Buddy Rydell was just there to annoy the hell out of Dave, because he was hired by Linda to help him to express his anger and not constantly suppress it, but then the methods used by Buddy and even he himself, was not really that true to the concept of anger management, was it?
Overall, it was true to its genre; a slapstick comedy, and nothing to really take seriously or else, one will just end up confused or frustrated.

Character Analysis:
Adam Sandler as Dave Buznik

Adam plays the anger-suppressed Dave quite well, and it is no surprise since this is Adam Sandler we are talking about. His expressions make one feels for him, and empathize with what he is feeling; which is mostly frustration. We can't blame him, when people like Buddy, Chuck and his boss constantly annoying the daylights out of him, and they kept pushing at that limit. I think any normal human being or even the most patient would be angered by those actions.
In my opinion, I didn't really think that Dave was a dangerous person at all; nor is he as violent as charged in court which is the main reason why I find the concept of the movie just ridiculous. Dave is a very likable character, and he is probably just like most of the people around the world, who just wants a little peace and he can deal with his own problems, but no, everyone around him just thinks he needs to learn to express his anger appropriately. Of course, that makes sense, but sometimes, when one learns to express anger, then they want them to learn to suppress their anger, yeah, then the movie Anger Management comes along.

Jack Nicholson as Buddy Rydell

No doubt, Jack is the veteran who added the drama to the movie, as he plays the annoying yet professional anger management therapist, Dr. Buddy Rydell. Alright, the interesting part is how this guy preaches about anger management to Dave and yet losing his temper or cool easily when things go wrong. It was just quite ironic. Yeah, it is all about learning to express your emotions when needed, and not resorting to violence, but the methods Buddy used turned out to be bizarre and annoying too, no offense. Jack is poised and cool in most of his scenes, playing the eccentric doctor to a believable level.

Marisa Tomei as Linda

Sweet and subtle, there is really nothing more to say about the character Linda as there was not much of an appearance. She is supposed to be the master mind behind the whole plot, but yet, she did not have much of an impact in the movie, except to show her sweet smile once in a while in those scenes she did appear.

Likes about the movie:
The scene where Dave stops his car in the middle of the bridge and was made to sing "I Feel Pretty" with the crazy Dr. Buddy Rydell.

Dislikes about the movie:
Why doesn't everyone just leave Dave alone, and just kept pushing him by doing all sorts of silly things? I just find it a little over the edge sometimes, in the movie.

Verdict:
Watch with an open mind, but don't delve too much into the logic as this is not about understanding the movie. This is a slapstick comedy, so nothing more.

Rating: 2.5/5