The primary upside to The Upside of Anger is the presence of Joan Allen in the lead role.

Allen is one of the most reliable American actresses, and her intelligence and wit raise the quality of a movie that often feels as if it belongs on the Lifetime cable network. She transcends the soap-opera nature of the story and lends the film emotional heft.

Allen plays the prickly and sharp-tongued Terry, a suburban mother of four daughters whose husband suddenly leaves her. She grows embittered seemingly overnight, relying on booze and sarcasm for solace. Her daughters experience their own psychological and physical traumas to add to her mounting unease.

Kevin Costner does a fine job as Terry's laid-back drinking buddy/neighbor who is surprisingly comfortable hanging out in a household of five women. Terry's daughters -- played by some of the best young actresses around, including Erika Christensen and Evan Rachel Wood -- work well despite limited material.

A major drawback is director/screenwriter Mike Binder's unfortunate decision to cast himself in a key role as a radio station manager who seduces Christensen. She comes looking for a job at the station where Costner, a former baseball star, has a talk show. She gets an entry-level spot and a slimy skirt-chaser in her bed to boot. Not really an actor and not much of a comedian, Binder could have spent his time more wisely focusing his energies on polishing the script. Many of the comic moments in the film are in the broad and silly vein of a second-rate sitcom, with gags centering largely on drunkenness that wear thin pretty fast.