The Duke Watches "Anger Management"

Imagine if there was a movie what had Jack Nicholson, who was arrested after beating a car windscreen to hell with a golf club back in 1994, acting as an anger management counselor. And then, imagine if the fella he was "treating" was none other than Adam Sandler, star of Adam Sandler Is Real Quiet And Then Suddenly Bursts Into Rage and Adam Sandler Is Real Quiet And Then Suddenly Bursts Into Rage Part 2 and all those other great pictures where Sandler would be quiet for 15 minutes and then all these things would happen, really shitty stuff, and then he goes all angry.

Wouldn't it be cool as all hell if this hypothetical masterpiece was directed by Peter Segal, the man what made The Naked Gun 33 1/3 with the woman from The Anna Nicole Smith Show? Sharon Osbourne, I think she was called.

Well, before you go running off to Hollywood, California with this great idea about Jack Nicholson is an anger management fella who treats Adam Sandler, you better consider the consequences of your plagiarist crimes, since it's already out there, exactly as you just described, in the form of a film called Anger Management.

You make me sick to my guts, you unoriginal motherfucker.

Anger Management is about how Adam Sandler plays Dave Buznik, a fella who is really shy and all that, but can't help getting caught up in wacky scenarios that lead to some terrible misunderstanding, like maybe he's on a plane and accidentally punches an air-stewardess on the face. He didn't mean to, is the point being made. Stop being so reactionary, audience viewers, it was all totally innocent.

Unfortunately Adam Sandler gets thrown into some Anger Management course or other, run by the fella what was sitting next to him on the plane when he hit the stewardess, Dr. Buddy Rydell. This Buddy character is played by Jack Nicholson, star of The Shining and Pump Up The Volume.

The hilarity ensues when we realize that Buddy is in fact fairly demented, and yet no one sees it, man! How can these judges be so fond of him when he's so obviously a lunatic? If he's not smashing up a Lexus, he's laughing right out loud at Tomcats, and not even in an ironic kind of way like he's better than it, but in a real "I think this is mighty funny in the way it was intended" kind of way. Insanity is what The Duke would prescribe, but everyone in the film seems to think he's wonderful for the most part, until when he starts insulting people.

Continued on the next page Page 1 — Page 2Page 3Page 4

Article tags

Spread the word
Bookmark and Share
Read comments on this article, and add some feedback of your own

Article comments

  • 1 - Chris Kent

    Jun 14, 2004 at 5:30 pm

    Brilliant stuff El Senor Duke.....Let's not forget the lovely Heather Graham flick Night of the Boogies for some truly yummy camera "angles."

    I'm just glad you are appropriately covering the great career of Ian Holm, what with The Snow What Killed the World, From Johnny Depp Hell (which had a great cameo by John Hurt) and The Adventures Of The Hobbits Trilogy......Good work should never go unnoticed!

  • 2 - Bob A. Booey

    Jun 14, 2004 at 8:15 pm

    Creepy ... just creepy.

  • 3 - Chris Kent

    Jun 14, 2004 at 8:34 pm

    Sorry if I hurt your feelings BABs......you had it coming......;)

    Still waiting for a post......

  • 4 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo

    Jun 14, 2004 at 8:40 pm

    Chris, thanks for the kind words! But whats going on here, eh? Controversy? What are you two fighting about? The Duke is intrigued. Come on. Share with the group, now.

  • 5 - Chris Kent

    Jun 14, 2004 at 8:45 pm

    I have a stalker El Senor Duke. And please accept my apologies.

  • 6 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo

    Jun 14, 2004 at 8:50 pm

    Ha! No need to apologise, i was intrigued is all. Play nice, you two. Cyber-scuffs can get all nasty all of a sudden.

  • 7 - Eric Olsen

    Jun 14, 2004 at 8:56 pm

    At first, I - as the good Duke will attest - was concerned that the Duke was just about style, though an entertaining, energetic and inventive style he certainly possesses.

    But that is not the case: in fact sometimes I think the Duke hides some very deep, thoughtful and humane thinking and feeling behind style because he doesn't always trust his own instincts and it's always easier to say "just kidding."

    The Duke is always very good, often excellent, and sometimes extraordinary.

  • 8 - Chris Kent

    Jun 14, 2004 at 9:16 pm

    Some good points Eric,

    But The Duke resides on a different plateau than most in this room. You either get it or you don't. I laugh out loud in my office when reading his stuff, and it amazes me. There is no one else in this room who writes with such flair and inventive pop obscurity.......there's some talent here......David Lynch, Hunter S. Thompson, hell, even William Burroughs would laugh whole-heartedly at this work. I get it, but hell, I can't write it.....

    You have 2-3 good writers in here. Duke is one of them.

  • 9 - Tom Johnson

    Jun 14, 2004 at 10:40 pm

    File me as a Duke Supporter. I wholeheartedly agree with Eric. I think the Duke's writing may seem like "schtick" to some, but it's only schtick if it doesn't have any substance behind it. Without a doubt, the Duke's writing conceals deeper truths that I'm really glad he lets the reader figure out for him/herself, rather than spelling it out explicitly. That's a good writer at work.

  • 10 - Eric Olsen

    Jun 16, 2004 at 12:45 pm

    Oh and Chris, there are way more than 2-3 good writers here - I am constatntly surpirsed and dlighted not just by the overall level of quality here, but at specific moments of observation, description, turn of a phrase, insight, etc that stop me cold.

    These things are what my faith in the site is based upn.

  • 11 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo

    Jun 16, 2004 at 12:51 pm

    Eric, i agree. Whilst it is more than lovely to get compliments like that from folks like Chris, Tom and yourself, folks i respect a hell of a lot as writers, i have to add that i think any bit of fuck-spinnery i do pales in comparison ot a shit-load of stuff on this site. It's why i read most every post, even if i couldn't care less about the topic. The quality of writing is amazing on here at times, and is always consistently entertaining at the very least.
    It's a unique slab of web-net, one that offers news, sure, but does so in a way that allows for individual voices to do the reporting, allows for artistic flair and what not since the writers aren't constrained by journlaistic codes of paragraph-structure and so on. I remember a comment left on a post about how the writer really needed to edit, becuase in a newspaper that kind of long-winded shit wouldn't be tolerated. i feel it would be a sad day if Blogcritics were to adopt such a style, ie, the writers start yacking like Times reporters. That would suck, is what The Duke makes of it all. This is the first site i visit each day, and i return it to loads of times throughout the period between getting up and passing out, and i'm only on it every couple days, so obviously its not just to see if anyone left comments for me lol. I genuinely feel inspired by a lot of the stuff on here, and jealous as all hell too. But thanks guys. Means a lot.

  • 12 - Chris Kent

    Jun 16, 2004 at 12:53 pm

    Eric,

    I enjoy your site and am also surprised and delighted by many posts. But I stand by what I said without a moment's doubt.

  • 13 - Eric Olsen

    Jun 16, 2004 at 12:56 pm

    all very nice to hear - thanks for writing AND reading

  • 14 - Chris Kent

    Jun 16, 2004 at 1:00 pm

    ....but that does not mean many of the great contributors are not becoming good writers, as they most certainly are......

    I myself am a shitty writer and embrace it wholeheartedly.......but at least I try, though not with the feverish regularity of what man The Duke.....

  • 15 - Eric Olsen

    Jun 16, 2004 at 1:04 pm

    Chris, you're a very good writer and excellent thinker - I don't agree with your self-analysis

  • 16 - Chris Kent

    Jun 16, 2004 at 1:09 pm

    Thank you for the kind words and I always appreciate being allowed to contribute. I suppose certain comments soured my mood, putting me on the defensive. My apologies, as there are certainly many excellent writers and thinkers in this room. I am happy to be here.

  • 17 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo

    Jun 16, 2004 at 1:17 pm

    Chris, yours is one of those names i hover to instintively when its slapped beneath a post. You are among the most intelligent critcs de filmic what i have encountered. Honestly. Keep it up, sir.

  • 18 - Mark Saleski

    Jun 16, 2004 at 1:59 pm

    i like the duke because 1. the writin's top notch and 2. he didn't accuse me of buying the black crowes cd just for the cover 'art'

Add your comment, speak your mind

Personal attacks are NOT allowed.
Please read our comment policy.
Please preview your comment.

blogcritics lists for Nov 12, 2009

fresh articles Most recent articles site-wide

fresh comments Most recent comments site-wide

most comments Most comments in 24hrs

top writers Most prolific Blogcritics for October

top commenters Most prolific Commenters in 24 hrs