“The Upside of Anger”
New Line, $27.95
WHO’S IN IT: Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Evan Rachel Wood
RECAP: Joan Allen and Kevin Costner make career comebacks in this dramedy, with the former playing a housewife forced to take care of her four daughters when her husband vanishes.
BEST EXTRA: The chatty, forthright commentary track features director Mike Binder, Allen and moderator Rod Lurie, who directed Allen in “The Contender.”
SECRETS REVEALED: Writer/director Binder wrote the film with Allen in mind, and because of that had to look outside the traditional studio system for financing (for his part, Kevin Costner took a pay cut).
FEATURE TO SKIP: “Creating ‘The Upside of Anger’ ” is about as special and insightful as the generic title.
TRIVIA: Binder actually acted alongside Allen on “The Contender.”
IF YOU LIKED THIS, TRY: “Off the Map,” another strong Joan Allen turn, coming shortly to DVD.
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RATING: 3 REMOTES
“The Jerk: 26th Anniversary Edition”
Universal, $19.98
WHO’S IN IT: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Jackie Mason
RECAP: Steve Martin plays an innocent rube/moron/man-child made super-successful against all odds. Fittingly, the movie–Martin’s first–made the man a hugely successful star and set the stage for many other movie morons to come.
BEST EXTRA: “The Lost Filmstrips of Father Carlos Las Vegas de Cordova,” a faux reel that professes to capture such affronts to good taste as “fish taunting.”
SECRETS REVEALED: The DVD includes ukulele lessons so you can play “Tonight You Belong to Me.”
FEATURE TO SKIP: Skip? Despite its somewhat tongue-in-cheek name, this “anniversary edition” features virtually no supplements.
TRIVIA: On the great TV show “Freaks & Geeks,” the geeks used “The Jerk” to gauge the geek potential of would-be friends.
IF YOU LIKED THIS, TRY: Steve Martin in “All of Me,” the peek of his spaz persona.–joshua klein is a redeye special contributor.
RATING: 1 REMOTE
COMING SOON
In stores next week:
– “Alexander”
– “Beautiful Boxer”
– “Downfall”
“Guess Who”
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Edited by Curt Wagner ([email protected]) and Kris Karnopp ([email protected])