Reign Over Me

Starring: Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle, Jada Pinkett Smith, Liv Tyler, Donald Sutherland,
Directed by: Mike Binder
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
2007

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A man (Don Cheadle) catches up with his old college roommate (Adam Sandler), a man who lost his entire family in 9/11. He is struggling to control his grief, and these two men form an unlikely friendship.

Review:

Tim: This movie set out with lofty goals and managed to come through with them all. This is one of the first movies to examine the post-traumatic stress that resulted as a result of 9/11. It is also a movie about friendship, dealing with grief, and family. And, despite its stretching to include all these themes, director Mike Binder manages to weave this all together into a powerful and beautiful story.

Adam Sandler is in full-out drama mode here. His previous attempt, in Punch Drunk Love did not go over very well. However, he must have learned from that experience, because he is truly excellent here as a man completely destroyed by guilt and grief. He is difficult to watch at his most violent and melancholy moments, but he poured himself into the role, and it is one you need to see. Don Cheadle’s importance to the film can’t be understated. He needed to be a solid anchor to Sandler’s drowning-in-sorrow character, but to also really display the range of emotions he’s going through (from sympathy to pity to anger to sorrow to thankfulness). He manages to be all of these things, and also manages to interact extremely well with Sandler. Watching these two men give such great performances really makes the movie.

The film also manages to offer some very interesting side stories, from Cheadle’s patient and her flirtations, Sandler’s wife’s family, and Cheadle dealing with his own family. These all come together to support the two main characters and give us a wonderfully rich look at these two human beings. All of these elements come together in the film’s climax, a surprisingly powerful few scenes that weigh emotionally on us. Some of this comes from drawing on the collective pain of 9/11, and some on the leverage gained by creating such real characters who we care about and are emotionally invested in. Reign Over Me is at times difficult to watch, and the emotional nature makes this a movie you probably couldn’t stand to watch over and over. However, this is a beautiful motion picture that discusses an important topic, and works to explore humanity as well. You will be hard pressed to find another film that does everything this does, as effectively as it does. I am really glad I saw this movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 8



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