It's the Rage

Director James D. Stern's ambitious (at best) adrenalin-laced ensemble effort focuses on a disparate group of pistol-toting strangers whose lines of fire eventually intersect in predictable and uninteresting ways. An impressive cast--including Jeff Daniels, Gary Sinise, Robert Forster, David Schwimmer, Anna Paquin, Josh Brolin, Giovanni Ribisi, and André Braugher--is wasted on wildly histrionic material, with the possible exception of the incomparable Joan Allen, who, not surprisingly, rises above the fray by sheer strength of will. I imagine this (a.k.a. All the Rage) was intended to push an anti-gun agenda, but the message one comes away with is almost the opposite: first, the nutcases here only underline the gun lobbies' point that "people kill people," and secondly, when forced to spend an hour and a half with these characters, even the most pacific in the audience will likely wish they were packing. A weak optional purchase. (S. C. Sickles)