 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Anger Management
- Review Date: September 14, 2003
- PG-13
- Genre: Comedy
- 2003
Common Sense Media says
Very raunchy, uneven comedy with great actors.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie is extremely raunchy for a PG-13, with constant jokes about penis size, plus jokes about lesbian porn stars who enjoy three-way sex, a drag queen prostitute, a mentally ill girl, masturbation, premature ejaculation, flatulence, and prison rape. It has comic violence. Characters drink and smoke.
What's the story?
In ANGER MANAGEMENT, Dave (Adam Sandler), a deeply repressed executive assistant who designs clothing for overweight cats, is sentenced to anger management after a misunderstanding on an airplane and ends up in Dr. Rydell's (Jack Nicholson) therapy group. After another misunderstanding, he is sentenced to a full-time program that has the decidedly un-repressed Rydell moving in with him, going to work with him, and taking him on a road trip to Boston. Sparks fly as the two opposites try to deal with the uncomfortable arrangement. Rydell forces Dave to confront a childhood bully and pick up a pretty girl. He even persuades Dave to break up with his loyal girlfriend, Linda (Marisa Tomei). All of this is intended to get Dave to acknowledge his real feelings, leading to the inevitable "I learned so much from you!" conclusion.
Is it any good?
Just as mismatched as Anger Management's odd couple are the film's two competing scripts. The original script is credited to first-timer David Dorfman. Contributed by producer-star Adam Sandler, the second "script" has many pre-adolescent jokes about body parts and their functions and a lot of references to 80's pop culture. The result is an uneven blend of pretty low humor and REALLY low humor on the theme of utter humiliation. It is only barely saved by the sheer pleasure of watching Jack Nicholson.
Anger Management is a variation on every odd couple movie ever made, but especially Analyze This, which also had a comedian playing the straight man and a distinguished actor going wild. Adam Sandler plays his standard character. Yet while Nicholson plays his well-known "guy who just might do anything at any moment," he manages to toss in a few surprises.
Explore, discuss, enjoy
Families can talk about some of Dr. Rydell's comments, especially when he says that there are two kinds of anger, explosive and implosive and that sarcasm is anger's ugly cousin. How do the people in your family handle their anger? It might also be interesting to talk about Sandler's attraction or compulsion to explore these themes. It's hard to escape the sense that he is working through some of his own issues with this material.
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- Teens & kids
Teen, 14 years old
April 9, 2008
AGE
NOT SANDLER'S BEST!
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Teen, 16 years old
February 2, 2010
AGE
Great Movie!
I recently just saw this movie for the first time. I know it's been out for a long time, I just didn't seem too interested with the plot. However the other night I was bored and since it's one of the few Adam Sandler movies I've never seen I decided to give it a chance. And I have to say...I LOVED IT! This movie is laugh out loud funny from begining to end, but also has some great messages that you can really take to heart! I had no idea that I would enjoy this movie so much. That being said, this movie is best for kids that around 14 and up. Possibly a very mature 13 year old. The language is pretty harsh, but its used in a mainly non-explicit context that I wouldn't consider to be "too vulgar" but it's still said, so if you're kids aren't mature enough to hear the f-word, then don't let them watch this! Their is also quite a bit of sexual stuff in this movie as well, although it's not as bad as some stuff out there these days, mainly it's just mature jokes,that could easily go right over a kid's head. Great movie, highly reccommend it for kids 14 and up!
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Adult
April 9, 2008
AGE
I walked out of the theater with a big smile
It was really great! The ending was even better! I suggest you go see it!
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Parent
February 2, 2010
AGE
Anger Managment
Very funny movie. The part when Dave fought his old bully cracked me up. A fun movie for the whole family really.
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Teen, 13 years old
May 22, 2011
AGE
Funny Sandler Flick
This movie tells you to stand up for yourself. There is some bad language and questionable characters but they are all for the comedy of the movie, not to be taken seriously. Besides, its nothing worse than anything else on TV these days.
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Teen, 13 years old
October 28, 2011
AGE
Read
Change Rated R: For Strong Sex, Strong Language, Slapstick Humor, and Drinking
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Teen, 13 years old
April 5, 2009
AGE
I saw it on TV so i didnt get the worst parts
But I could get the general jist of it. I thought it was very funny, though, adn Nicholson did a fairly good job.
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Teen, 16 years old
October 11, 2011
AGE
Very funny, but NOT FOR KIDS!!!!!!!!
Ok, this one is a little confusing. Anger Management is a hilarious comedy, with one of the best endings I have ever seen, even if it may be a little predictable to people who have seen movies like this before. That being said, this is one the most sexually crude movies I have ever seen that got a PG-13 rating. Most of, and I am not exaggerating, MOST OF the jokes require an explicit knowledge of sex to even get the funny part, and then, a lot of them just are not funny. That last bit may just be my opinion, and I encourage you to make up your own mind about this one, but I truly hope that you do not have a kid under the age of 14 who is able to comprehend every joke in this movie. Some of them are on the verge of being pornographic. Now that that's out of my system, let's get down to business. VIOLENCE: There are some fight scenes in this movie, including a very painful looking one involving a Buddhist (Don't ask, just don't). But then, with a title like "Anger Management", what do you expect? SPOILER ALERT: A gun is pointed at people in two seperate scenes, but is shown both times to be a water gun disguised as a real weapon, including in the last scene of the movie. I only put the spoiler alert up because that last scene isn't as good if you know the gun is fake from the get-go, so... SPOILER ALERT OVER. SEXUAL CONTENT: This category is involved in most of the jokes in this movie, including, but not limited to: Two lesbian pornographic actresses (who act visibly aroused through most of their scenes, and kiss in their first one), a trans-gender prostitute (a deeply make-up covered Woody Harrelson), many, MANY penis jokes, and various other scenes. LANGUAGE: Not as bad as many other comedies of this type, but still rough, with many uses of the "S" word, one F***, and other T.V. friendly, but still obscene words. In summary, despite all the many jokes that cause me to BEG you not to let your younger children see this, this is a very funny movie, and you will love seeing the normally distinguished (minus his role as the Joker), actor Jack Nicholson act as crazy as he does in this film. There will be many times you will cringe at jokes, but you will laugh just as much, if not more, even though this is NOT a movie I would recommend for family viewing. For the record, that fourth star is for the last 20 minutes of the movie, which made everything else worth it. Thanks for reading! :)
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| Studio: | Columbia Tristar |
| Director: | Peter Segal |
| Cast: | Adam Sandler, Jack Nicholson, Marisa Tomei |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Run time: | 100 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | April 11, 2003 |
| DVD release date: | September 16, 2003 |
| MPAA rating: | PG-13 |
| MPAA explanation: | crude sexual content and language |
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