In theaters

THE UPSIDE OF ANGER, written and directed by Mike Binder, 116 minutes, rated R.

The new Mike Binder dramedy, “The Upside of Anger,” stars Joan Allen as Terry Wolfmeyer, a disillusioned, middle-aged woman slapped with the unexpected ugliness of having to face herself, her life and her presumed lack of prospects when her husband dumps her for that old clich?, his younger secretary.

As far as Terry knows, her husband has skipped off to Switzerland, neatly abandoning her and their four daughters without explanation or word of his departure. He just vanishes and that, understandably, has made Terry furious. Consumed by betrayal, bewilderment and rage – mostly rage – she doesn’t turn to her family for solace or insight. Instead, she goes straight for those other clich?s – sarcasm, bitterness and the bottle, savoring the sort of vodka-soaked bender that would lay waste to even the heartiest of drunks.

The film, which Binder based on his own script, is a tour-de-force for Allen, whose cutting, sometimes cruelly funny performance lifts an otherwise rote story way out of the ordinary. For Terry’s rage, Binder offers up several sacrificial lambs, beginning with her daughters (Alicia Witt, Erika Christensen, Keri Russell, Evan Rachel Wood), all of whom behold what their mother has become – hostile, leering, soused by 8 a.m. – with the sort of wariness that borders on bemusement and repulsion.

Also in the mix is Terry’s neighbor Denny (Kevin Costner), a famous, once-great baseball star whose retirement from the game has been spent drinking too much beer and slumming daily through a radio talk show he’d like to quit. Denny is an alcoholic, single and not loving it, and so, when he hears that Terry’s husband has ditched her, he naturally decides to pursue a relationship with her. She is, after all, rather sexy and smart when she’s not half in the bag. Perhaps he has the goods to save her, maybe even himself.

Good luck to Denny.

Dysfunction is a bull that runs rampant through “The Upside of Anger,” but considering the circumstances at hand, that sounds about right, doesn’t it? It’s certainly what gives the movie energy.

Emotionally, the film is riddled with neuroses – it’s a tragedy, a comedy, a drama, and in one hilarious scene, the most spectacular of horror shows. And yet the movie, in spite of its soapy underpinnings and a disappointing final twist, doesn’t implode. You’re never bored watching it, which is a testament to the cast, to the sharp dialogue and to Binder himself, who turns up as a sleazy radio show producer who beds one of Terry’s far younger daughters – and nearly steals the show.

Grade: B+

On video and DVD

LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, directed by Brad Silberling, written by Robert Gordon, 108 minutes, rated PG.

The best scenes in Brad Silberling’s “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” revolve around Meryl Streep’s Aunt Josephine, a once fearless woman who has, in her widowhood, become unreasonably fearful of all that surrounds her.

To the orphaned Baudelaire children – Klaus (Liam Aiken), Violet (Emily Browning) and toddler Sunny (Shelby and Kara Hoffman) – Aunt Josephine may be a bit weird given her unfounded fear of Realtors and her penchant for launching into paranoiac outbursts (“Watch the chandelier, children! If it falls, it will impale you!” “Come away from the refrigerator, darlings! If it falls, it will crush you flat!” “Watch out for those avocados! The pit could become lodged in your throats!”)

Still, when it comes to finding a proper guardian willing to take them in, the Baudelaire children would take Aunt Josephine any day over the awful alternative, Count Olaf (Jim Carrey), a gruesome beast whose only interest in these kids is the fortune they inherited when their parents died in a mysterious fire that consumed their mansion.

The film, which screenwriter Robert Gordon based on Daniel Handler’s popular series of grim children’s books, is lavishly produced and heavily stylized, a “Harry Potter” hopeful narrated by Jude Law, seen here only in silhouette. The movie remains true to its title. A series of unfortunate events do indeed befall these youngsters, with a few individual scenes so well-produced, they’re on par with anything in the Potter movies.

But “Lemony Snicket,” as a whole, falls short of the Potter movies. Gone missing is the magic. The movie’s self-conscious narration doesn’t allow for a seamless slip into Handler’s dark, dreary world; Carrey’s performance predictably favors camp, which robs the movie of the real chill it needs to be significant; and also missing is the depth of character achieved in the Potter movies.

The child actors in “Lemony” are fine, but with the exception of Sunny, whose ferocious bite and witty bons mots are revealed in clever title cards, they aren’t allowed to take shape in the gloom. This is a cute but unremarkable group, the lot of which pale when compared to the livelier spunk of Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Grade: B-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, and are archived at RottenTomatoes.com. He may be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.