Movie Review - Reign Over Me

This movie was actually part of my video fest while the family was out of town, but I felt it deserved a full review rather than a quick dash an go.

First let's talk Adam Sandler.

I like Adam Sandler as an actor and a comedian. Before I saw this film I would have said he'd done mostly good movies, two great ones and a few not so good films. I'd say they were bad films, but even the ones I really didn't like had moments where I will still quote today and, for that reason alone, they deserve a "not so good" rating from me.

(In case you're wondering, the two films I rate as "great" are "The Wedding Singer" and "Spanglish." I'm not a big PTA fan and while I appreciated Sandler's role and the stretch from his previous characters, I just didn't think "Punch Drunk Love." was a great film.)

If there were any one complaint I have about Adam Sandler's characters it's the "over the top" nature that most seem to have, even if it's for a moment in a movie where the character didn't display said attributes before.

As you can guess by my great rating of "Spanglish" I do see a lot of potential for Sandler in a straight dramatic role.

"Reign Over Me" proved that, not only can Sandler act in a completely dramatic role, he can do so in a fashion where the "over the top" character doesn't come out.

Now, certainly, the director has a lot to do with this as well. There is one scene in particular where his character is out of control (I won't go into specifics as it's a pivitol scence in the film) where a lesser director/actor whould have let the out of control character that Sandler has built up come out and play and it would have shattered the scene and possibly the whole movie in that moment. However, in that moment, Sandler may have defined his career as an actor. The pain the character is feeling, the issues that he'd (not) dealing with, it all comes out in a powerful scene that compeltely captured me.

So what about the rest of the film?

The truth is, this isn't Adam Sandler's film: It's Don Cheadle's. The story really revolves around his character.

The basics of the film (mostly shown in the trailer) are as follows:

Don Cheadle's character, Alan, is a dentist who's got a lot of dissatisfaction in his life. By chance, he runs into his old Dentistry college roommate, Charlie (Sandler.) Charlie lost his wife and 3 girls during 9/11 (they were on one of the planes from Boston,) a fact Alan is aware of (but no mention is made during the trailer as to when he found out.)

Charlie in his grief has disconnected from reality in several ways: he doesn't practice dentistry anymore, drives around Manhattan at night on an electric scooter and has tried to build up a wall of denial about what has happened to his life.

What the trailer tried to convey was this is a "buddy film" where Don Cheadle's character Alan reconnects with Adam Sandler and frees himself by living vicariously through Charlie.

The truth is, this isn't that film. That's the film the marketing folks tried to sell you to get you in the theaters.

The actual film is as follows:

Alan has a lot of dissatisfaction in his life. He seems to be drifting, letting everyone else dictate how his life should be. He works in a dentistry practice that he put together and now his partners are stomping all over him. The pain of everyday life shows on his face which has lead to more than one woman trying to seduce him to help ease his obvious anguish in life. And moreover, he's aware of his ennui. He finds reasons to leave the building his practice is in at the same time as a psychologist, played by Liv Tyler and asks her advice on behalf of a "friend," a ploy she sees right through.

By chance encounter, Alan sees his old roommate, whos circumstances he's been aware of since September 2001 (and he tried to contact him after the attacks.) Later, he encounters him a second time in such a manner that he can actually talk to his former roommate. It becomes quickly apparent to Alan that Charlie has completely and deliberately lost touch with reality: He's been remodeling his kitchen for 5 years, he denies evern having a wife and kids and spends a lot of his days obsessing over a video game only to play drums with a punk band at night.

Feeling he has no control over his own life, Alan believes he can help Charlie take control of his.

And that's just the first 30 minutes of the movie.

This is not a simple movie.

There's a lot of complexity going on with mutiple subplots that tie in together very well.

But it's really the acting and direction which stand out in the film.

Without some serious acting chops from both Cheadle and Sandler, this movie would quickly degenerate into the buddy film it was advertised as and a lot of the subtlety would be lost without Mike Binder's direction. It certainly doesn't hurt that Binder wrote the film and has the experience to pull off his own vision (something I don't know that he would have been able to if this had been written 15 years ago when he wrote and directed another one of my "comfort films" "Indian Summer.")

A word of note: This is not a "happy go lucky" film. If you're in the mood for light entertainment ala "Happy Gilmore," this is not the film for you at this time. This is a serious drama and while it may or may not cause you to reflect on your own life, it's certainly one that will get you thinking.

I was entertained.