Creator: Bruce Helford
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Selma Blair Shawnee Smith, Daniela Bobbadilla, Noureen DeWulf, Michael Arden, Derek Richardson, Barry Corbin
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 200 minutes
For Carlos Irwin Estévez 2012 was a year of drugs, terrible stand-up, a sacking, a divorce and more drugs. In between lines of smack and hits of junk,and hoping to take attention off his misdemeanours and make a lot of money, he managed to star in his own sitcom ANGER MANAGEMENT.
Charlie (Sheen) is a retired baseball player working as a therapist for a group; Ed (Corbin), Lacey (DeWulf), Patrick (Arden) and Nolan (Richardson), suffering anger management issues. He is father to a daughter Sam (Bobadilla), a divorcee from Jennifer (Smith) and sleeps with his therapist Kate (Blair). Sound like a formulaic setup with a plethora of overused scenarios drained of laughter years ago? That’s because it is.
ANGER MANAGEMENT’s main issue isn’t that it’s tired, unfunny and boring, which it is, the main gripe is its laziness. Each character could be lifted from the screen and plonked into every sitcom of the last 15 years; the angry racist Ed, the socially awkward Nolan, the delectable lady who happens to be mental, Lacey, and of course the gay, Patrick. Coming from Bruce Helford – creator of generic nonsense THE DREW CAREY SHOW and GEORGE LOPEZ amongst others – there should be no surprise, but come on Bruce you had Charlie Sheen hungry to prove the TWO AND A HALF MEN team wrong and you only manage to prove them right. On the plus side his Dad Martin turns up for a bit, and uh, yeah that’s about it for the positives.
It is tough to recommend ANGER MANAGEMENT when shows such as COMMUNITY, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT and MODERN FAMILY exist, each original and hilarious. Accusations that can’t be levelled at ANGER MANAGEMENT.
ANGER MANAGEMENT: SEASON ONE is released on DVD 14th January.
