For some, that will come as a relief (especially since Sandler’s latest, P.T. Anderson’s revelatory arthouse gem “Punch-Drunk Love”, probably made them scratch their heads and spew obscenities). Aside from his wonderfully liberated performance in “Punch-Drunk”, I’m tiring of Sandler’s current trend of repressed, romantic, angst-ridden losers (a mode which worked well in “The Wedding Singer” - five years ago). Fortunately, “Anger Management” has Jack Nicholson, who gets to unleash all his signature Jack-isms to the absolute extreme after his subdued turn in “About Schmidt”. Nicholson is hilarious, and Sandler willingly bows as his hapless foil; it’s a partnership curious enough to make the film entertaining.

Sandler is Dave Buznik, who is placed in the care of renowned psychiatrist Buddy Rydell (Nicholson) after he assaults an airline attendant during a ferocious mid-flight tantrum. Well, not really. The joke is that Dave is not an angry person, but is consistently mistaken for one. Buddy’s methods are somewhat questionable - he insists on sharing an apartment and spooning with Dave while nestled beside him in bed - and he begins to turn his patient’s relatively normal life upside-down.

As a comedy tag-team, Sandler and Nicholson are left marooned by Peter Segal (“The Nutty Professor II”), whose slack direction makes the film’s recurring slow patches seem even more dreadfully inert, and receive few pearls of witty wordplay from David Dorfman’s script (and who knows, the two or three great zingers here may have been improvised). Calling “Anger Management” a “good movie” would be a charitable assessment, but it is good-natured, often easy to enjoy and boosted by an enthusiastic supporting cast, including the adorable Marisa Tomei (will you marry me?) as Dave’s girlfriend, Luis Guzman as a flamboyant therapy group member, John Turturro (who repeats his feat accomplished in “Mr. Deeds” and virtually steals the movie) as an unstable rageaholic and some major cameos (the funniest of which belongs to John C. Reilly, as a reformed schoolyard bully turned Buddhist monk) sprinkled throughout.

The film has its laughs, and represents a step up for Sandler after the annoying trifle “Mr. Deeds”. Unfortunately, it could hardly be called a step forward. Thank God Jack Nicholson is present to engage his silly side and exercise those famous eyebrows, which get quite the work-out in two priceless scenes - one being Dave and Buddy’s spirited duet of “I Feel Pretty” from “West Side Story”, and the other a moment when Dave is persuaded to use a pickup line involving exploding in his pants to woo a beautiful woman at the bar. When he looks to Buddy for go-ahead confirmation, Nicholson flashes the most uproarious expression a human face could be capable of (arched eyebrows, sadistic grin) as he eggs Sandler on. It’s something to remember in a movie most will instantly forget.