Metacritic reviews

A fiercely funny human comedy with jokes that sting and leave marks.

Allen turns the character into a tour de force that unleashes an unexpected comedy about compassion and self-loathing.

Increasingly exhibits a desire to amuse and distract rather than go deep, which ultimately generates disappointment in light of its announced intentions.

One senses that this is an intensely personal project for Binder, who is not as forgiving as he might be toward the mercurial mother. Still, the film is carried by Costner and Allen, who project a chemistry so incrementally built on reluctant camaraderie, they almost seem like siblings.

The Upside of Anger belongs to Joan Allen (for whom director/screenwriter Mike Binder developed the project).

The Upside of Anger is overly therapized, yet Costner and Allen show you what it means not just to play a role but to inhabit it.

The film's outsized ambitions are deceptive: Everything here is less than meets the eye.

A seriously flawed movie wrapped around two nearly perfect performances.

What's lacking in The Upside of Anger is a steady sense that we're watching real people cope with real, jolting emotions.

The film has exhausted itself with fits of glib hysteria long before its truly stupefying final twist, a stunning betrayal of audience trust.