Anger Management
The movie will make you laugh. The ending will make you cry
Having a bad ending has torpedoed more than one film experience. The Village's twist was a groaner and the last scene of the Last Samurai knocked it down a rung or two. But in a comedy?
Comedy is about laughter during the journey not the stories conclusion. None of our best comedies are known for their finales. Meet the Parents left with a comparative whimper, There's Something about Mary's ending is at best forgettable, and the bombastic over the top noise of say The Blues Brothers or Caddyshack certainly wasn't for everyone.
(The exception to this rule is the wonderful Stay Puff marshmallow man payoff from Ghostbusters)
The last 15 minutes aside this movie has some really funny bits. Even stupid stuff like sweaters for overweight cats worked for me. Now that's rare. The set-up is pure gold and the cast is great.
If anything Sandler is easily the weakest of the bunch. (Luis Guzman and John Turturro's characters needed their own movie and it was great seeing Jack be Jack again after that slog that was About Schmidt. Sandler knows how to do cruel. Anger Management was such a good concept and had such funny execution that it demanded a dark cruel outburst of energy at the end not this indescribably painful schmaltz.