Stephen King absolutely hated one Jack Nicholson movie

Stephen King is a confident guy. Stroll the fiction aisles of your local bookstore and look at the covers of new novels, and you probably won't have to look far to find one praising Stephen King—which is touching, because in this age of distracted everything, it's nice. to see one of the world's most prominent authors encourage people to lose themselves in a book.

However, the king is not always a ray of sunshine. He is notorious for his aversion to it Adaptation of Stanley Kubrick's The Shiningand has not held back from other cinematic interpretations of his novels. (Once, while panning the 1984 version of Firestarter, in an interview with American movie(he took vitriolic aim at host David Keith, who, according to the writer's wife, had “stupid eyes.”) And when, in the mid-2000s, Entertainment Weekly began devoting space to King's column in its print pages to rant and rave about all things. pop culture, he didn't spare his hatred for the latest music of Jewell, Beyoncé and Celine Dion, while unloading both barrels in such prestigious films as “Antwone Fisher” and “The Life of David Gale”.

Amusingly, he even once used his platform to shred a Jack Nicholson movie was not “The Shining”. Was it up against venerable classics like “Five Easy Pieces” or “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest”? King might be a fierce critic, but he's not that wild No, he unloaded a completely harmless film that deserved neither praise nor offense.

“Anger management” is average Adam Sandler comedy featuring one brilliantly funny throwaway gag (a cat reacting to the size of Allen Covert's penis pants) as well as one of the weirdest star acts ever (surprise appearances by Clint Black, Woody Harrelson, Heather Graham, Bobby Knight, Derek Jeter and Rudy Giuliani). The plot is no slouch — Sandler plays a mistreated corporate drone whose in-flight outburst inspires a judge to give him around-the-clock care from an unconventional therapist — but it's more notable than, say, The Clicker's presence. Jack Nicholson, as the therapist said.

And that's the film's biggest problem. You expect more from the pairing of Sandler and Nicholson. The fact that Sandler is playing a less nuanced version of his character from Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love doesn't help either. Either way, King expected more from “Anger Management” and let his frustrations air on EW. Here is what he wrote:

“Didn't like 'Anger Management,' another in a long line of stoned, half-awake comedies. Yes, Adam Sandler is a funny man. Yes, Jack Nicholson is a great actor and a funny man. But you have to earn it every time. out, and here are two guys, that rides without a director smart enough to tell them it's time to wake up and earn a paycheck.

I feel like Sandler and Nicholson were into the movie, and I definitely think the capable Peter Segal delivered the best version of this movie that he could. The problem was David S. Dorfman's uninspired screenplay, which couldn't be revived, much less salvaged, by the cast. In any case, I'm not sure “Anger Management” got a harsher review, and it makes me wonder what King was thinking about the completely edgy “Adults.”