In Anger Management box office drawcard Adam Sandler plays Dave Buznik, a designer of cat apparel, who continually loses out on a job promotion to a guy who is creatively his junior. While travelling via plane he is apprehended for assaulting an airline hostess, although he denies it, and sent to 30 days of anger management therapy.

 His therapist is played by Jack Nicholson. Enough said. Remember The Shining? Or Batman? 

 This misfires with clichés and a series of hodgepodge set pieces that mainly rely on the charisma of Jack Nicholson rather than a truly witty script. The finale elementary and sillily sows up the loose ends and its message may get the approval of Freud but is a token gesture to the potentially hilarious and deeply affecting situations when someone is provoked to anger. There is not much variety to the humour, just a succession of verbose, sometimes vulgar, and rudimentary gags. Some plot points and scenes don’t make sense, including a crucial piece of plotting that we must take for granted in order to enjoy the story.

 The film’s trailer has the appeal of a crazed therapist played by the larger than life Jack Nicholson and a premise that makes counselling look all the more uninviting - is essentially an illusion in spite of its comedy intentions. It’s half-truth marketing. And if the writer had changed one important part of the story then this might have turned out agreeable – the ending would be less of a letdown and the outcome more believable.

 This maintains interest because of Nicholson’s charismatic performance, his character taking centre stage for most of the film as he guides Sandler – who is predominantly subdued as Dave, but is sometimes amusing when he loses his temper in all its reserved and repressed childlike intensity as his therapist, ironically, nerve grates him.

 You’re meant to get lost in some moments that celebrate the diversity of the characters – for example, while the soundtrack blares, the emotion is strong, the hero goes from zero, and you feel good … and this is how deep it gets, including the make love, not war subtleties. It’s more of a tack-on sensibility that draws you in. All quite piecemeal and disappointing, considering the film’s potential. I mean, there is only so much potential in a muddled leading character, and caractitures of lesbian porn actresses and transvestites played for laughs.