The Angriest Man in Brooklyn

Plot

Henry Altmann (Robin Williams) is stuck in Brooklyn traffic while on his way to a doctors appointment. His car is suddenly struck by a taxi, which propels him into a rage which he unleashes upon the taxi driver. Henry goes to the Brooklyn hospital, where Dr. Sharon Gill (Mila Kunis) is covering for his usual doctor, with whom she is having an affair. After examining scans of his brain, Sharon informs Henry that he has a brain aneurysm and his outlook is bad. Henry erupts, throwing insults at Sharon and demanding that she tell him how long he has to live. She tries to dodge the question, but Henry is persistent. Panicking, Sharon tells him that he will die in ninety minutes. Henry leaves the hospital in a rage.

Sharon talks with another doctor and realizes the consequences of her actions; she will surely be fired and lose her license. Sharon resolves to find Henry and put him into immediate care. Henry arrives at the family law firm of Altmann, and storms into a meeting between his brother Aaron (Peter Dinklage) and several older clients. He asks what a hypothetical client with only ninety minutes to live should do, they reply that the client should make love to his wife one last time. Henry then decides to run home to see his estranged wife, Bette (Melissa Leo), only to find that she is having an affair with their neighbor. Meanwhile, Sharon learns Henry’s case is serious enough that he could potentially die at any minute.

Sharon arrives at Henry’s office, where she tells Aaron of his brother’s diagnosis. Aaron tells her that Henry was once a kind, happy man, but became embittered after the death of his son, Peter, two years before. Meanwhile, Henry makes more stops on his quest for redemption, including attempting to contact his surviving son, Tommy. Henry disapproved of his sons choice to become a professional dancer, creating a rift between them. He makes a recording in which he tells Tommy he loves him, but flies into a rage halfway through and passes out. When he regains consciousness, he goes to the Brooklyn Bridge, intent on jumping into the East River. Sharon finds him there and apologizes for her earlier behavior, admitting she has no idea when he might die. Sharon begs him not to jump, saying that her career and by extent her life will be over if he does. Henry still leaps off the bridge, however, and Sharon runs from the bridge down to river where she goes into the water after him and drags him to shore. Henry realizes what he has become and asks Sharon to help him make things right with his family. Checking Sharon’s watch, he sees that he has only nineteen minutes left. Sharon hails a cab, driven by the same cabbie who hit Henry that morning. The cabbie and Henry begin to argue, but Sharon comes between the two men with a bottle of pepper spray, momentarily blinding the driver so that the pair can take off in his cab.

They drive to the Brooklyn Dancing Academy, where Henry finds Tommy sitting alone in one of the dance studios. The two begin to dance, just like when Tommy was a little boy. After sharing this moment with his son, Henry informs Sharon that he does not want to know when he will die; he only wants to know that he will try and lead a better life and that they can both find happiness. He then collapses on her shoulder, exhausted. It is then revealed that Henry goes to the hospital and live for another eight days, giving him time to share special moments with his family. One year later after Henry dies, Bette, Tommy, Aaron and Sharon are together on a cruise ship, where they celebrate Henrys life and spread his ashes across the East River. The captain of the cruise ship tells them that spreading ashes on the East River is illegal, but they berate him in Henrys honor.

Reception

The Angriest Man in Brooklyn has received negative reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 10% based on reviews from 30 critics, with an average rating of 3.5/10. Another review aggregation website, Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 21 out of 100 based on 13 reviews, which indicates generally unfavorable reviews.

Similar Movies

Peter Dinklage appears in The Angriest Man in Brooklyn and 13 Moons. Robin Williams appears in The Angriest Man in Brooklyn and House of D. Peter Dinklage appears in The Angriest Man in Brooklyn and Saint John of Las Vegas. Robin Williams appears in The Angriest Man in Brooklyn and Moscow on the Hudson. Peter Dinklage appears in The Angriest Man in Brooklyn and Tiptoes.

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on July 22, 2014.