'Anger Management' is only slightly annoying

Adam Sandler films, tagged as comedies, have usually been fairly charmless affairs in which Sandler appears as Sandler, does his best, trousers the cheque and moves on.

Anger Management

Director: Peter Segal

Cast: Adam Sandler, Jack Nicholson, Marisa Tomei, Woody Harrelson, John Turturro, Heather Graham

Cert: 15.

Adam Sandler is an acquired taste; like cold lard spread over half-a-soda.

His films, tagged as comedies, have usually been fairly charmless affairs in which Sandler appears as Sandler, does his best, trousers the cheque and moves on.

He is not the sort of 'star' you want to rush out and queue four-deep around the block to see; you can take him or leave him, either way it hardly seems to matter.

Here, he plays an innocent traveller caught up in a bit of air rage. He is sent to a good doctor - Nicholson, who obviously strolled past and thought he'd pass a couple of mindless moments - who needs TLC more than any of his patients. It is a story as thin as tissue and about as funny or observant of human quirks.

The film is played out as a series of cameos - with some solid players also strolling past - and though there are a couple of passable moments - well, there's the moment when, er, or what about that bit of business between, er, and laugh, we thought we'd never start, when - it's one of those films which floats gentle above our heads and vanishes over the horizon.

It's enough to make you crush a grape.

Star Rating: 2/5