IT’S THE RAGE

With her role as a Marxist heroine in THE CONTENDER, Joan Allen strikes again in another agenda-filled movie, IT’S THE RAGE. Though not quite as strong, the movie is clearly a picture of an ad for gun control, painted on a canvas of misconceptions.

Helen Harding (Allen) awakens in the middle of the night to gunshots. Realizing her husband, Warren (Jeff Daniels), is not in bed next to her, she makes her way downstairs, where she sees him holding a gun. Lying below him, in a pool of blood, is Warren’s partner, who is a friend of theirs. Shocked by the incident, Helen notices a few things that seem out of place to her, and soon her suspicions of Warren’s behavior are made evident.

Warren turns to his lawyer, Tim Sullivan (Andre Braugher of TV’s GIDEON’S CROSSING), a buddy of his who “owes him a favor.” Tim complies and Warren has the case against him dropped. Tim’s own problems, however, are growing as his male lover, Chris (David Schwimmer of TV’s FRIENDS), becomes suspicious of Tim’s late work nights. These nights, unbeknownst to him, are spent cheating on him with an underage girl named Annabel Lee. A girl from the wrong side of town, Annabel Lee enjoys provoking her already paranoid brother into taking his rage on whomever she pleases.

Meanwhile, Helen makes it clear that she no longer wants to be married to Warren, and even tells a fictitious story about making love to a stranger. Warren threatens her and grabs her arm, but a few days later, Helen disappears, leaving everything behind to start a new life. She takes on a job as an assistant for Norton Morgan, a once successful software designer who currently wants to live in seclusion. Part of Helen’s everyday tasks include turning away phone calls, deleting email, getting rid of bills, etc. Helen has pity on him, but Norton reads it as love and soon is obsessed with the idea of a relationship. As Norton’s obsession grows, so do the conflicts of everyone else in this tangled web of relationships and revenge, leading up to a sad, senseless result.

IT’S THE RAGE has a dark, dejected feel despite its few instances of humor. Pushing its humanist agenda using crazed characters, the movie takes on the issue of gun control as a cry for help. This cry only suppresses the truth that ANYTHING in the hands of these characters would be harmful because of their humanist, pagan and psychotic behavior. The story is neither uplifting nor inspiring, but rather depressing. The love, hope and peace that Jesus Christ can offer are not only ignored, but also mocked in one scene.

This dreary setting is only amplified by an extreme amount of foul language, over 81 obscenities and 4 profanities. This politically correct ad for gun control, complete with depicted violence, implied fornication and a skewed worldview, is just a failed attempt to make an invalid social statement, resulting in an empty message.