Parents' Guide to

Anger Management

By Nell Minow, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Very raunchy Sandler comedy is filled with sex and language.

Movie PG-13 2003 100 minutes
Anger Management Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 14+

Based on 7 parent reviews

Laura L.
Laura L. Parent
June 6, 2021
age 16+

Downright offensive

I really regret letting my 13.5 yr old watch this. I’m pretty relaxed about letting him watch movies with language and some inappropriate content. I would have rather had my son see most Rs. It portrayed comments toward women that qualify as harassment, made fun of mentally ill, overweight and gay people, portrayed people mistreating each other in psychological abusive and manipulative ways, and was not even funny!
CharlotteS1234
CharlotteS1234 Adult
May 12, 2021
age 11+

Great movie for 11+

I think its a great family movie for older kids. Me and my two kids watched it and we will watch it again!

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Too much swearing
See all 7 parent reviews

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's 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?

Our review:
Parents say (7):
Kids say (41):

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 '80s pop culture. The result is an uneven blend of pretty low humor and REALLY low humor on the theme of utter humiliation. It's 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.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how some comedic actors have a recognizable "brand" of comedy, a style that recurs in several of their movies. What is Adam Sandler's style, and what are the ways in which Anger Management is an example? Who are some other actors with a familiar comedic style seen across many of their movies?

  • How is the casting of Jack Nicholson as the therapist an unexpected role for those familiar with the types of characters Nicholson is known for playing?

  • How did the movie use stereotyping for the sake of humor? What groups were stereotyped? Is it all part of the obnoxious humor that is Sandler's style, or does it mine lazy humor out of groups that have often been easy targets of ridicule by society at large?

Movie Details

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