Cheadle, Sandler convincing in touching New York drama

March 26, 2007 —

Reign Over Me is a heartbreaking film about a man frustrated with a mundane life who comes into contact with his old college roommate, now a 9/11 widower. This renewed social connection brings both new life and new troubles, and I felt a plethora of emotions while viewing the onscreen happenings. Far from perfect, though, Reign Over Me succumbs to some unfortunate injections of convention that prevent this good movie from being great.

Don Cheadle stars as Alan Johnson, a dentist who is feeling frustrated with his predictable and restricted family life. He goes home one night and puts together a puzzle with his wife Janeane, played by Jada Pinkett Smith. When one of his daughters asks to be taken to a friend's house, he jumps at the opportunity, despite the late hour.

Cheadle makes scenes like this work through his expressions and mannerisms, when another actor could render them trite. His reaction to the news that Janeane has signed them up for an advanced photography class is priceless. We learn that he has taken to waiting outside a therapist's office to ask her questions on her way out, rather than go in for an official session.

Soon, after an unnecessary and unlikely scene of foreshadowing, Alan runs into his old roommate from college, Charlie Finema (Adam Sandler). Charlie was a dentist once as well, until his wife, daughters, and even family dog were killed in the 9/11 attacks. Charlie doesn't even seem to remember him at first, and it's obvious that he still has some major mental issues over the loss.

Nevertheless, Alan and Charlie start hanging out, and they go to concerts, jam on drums and guitar together, and play the video game Shadow of the Colossus (which is fitting for a variety of reasons here) until the late hours.

Eventually Alan really starts pushing for Charlie to get some help, and Charlie agrees to go see the therapist that Alan talks to, who is played by Liv Tyler. Charlie soon has a breakdown in an extremely intense and effective scene.

This leads to the inevitable courtroom scene, that place where all movies not centered on a courtroom case go wrong. Why do courtrooms have such a knack for derailing movies? Thankfully, this segment of the film is relatively brief, but the damage was done. I couldn't look at the movie quite the same way afterward.

Both Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler give fine, fine performances in Reign Over Me. Sandler has had a hit-and-miss career to be sure, but it's obvious from his performance here that he is a very capable actor. Scenes where Alan and Charlie are alone together are the strongest in the film.

Cheadle and Sandler are both convincing and natural in their conversation. I was able to laugh along with them when they joked around or were just having fun playing video games. For scenes of little activity to work in the way they do here is something special, and such convincing moments helps to prop up the rest of the movie.

It's unfortunate that with so many good scenes, Reign Over Me is undermined by such forced plot developments as the courtroom drama.

Another aspect of the film I took issue with was the treatment of Donna (Saffron Burrows), who starts out as an obsessive patient of Alan's and threatens a lawsuit after she is kicked out of his office for asking to give him oral sex. Her lines are delivered in that faux-crazy voice that actors use when they are playing a character that is pretending to be crazy.

Reign Over Me is deeply flawed, yes, but it overcomes those flaws by the strength of the lead performances and by those aspects of the plot that aren't so silly. Sandler is very believable in his performance, even showing some restraint by not acting strange, violent, or notably eccentric except when it makes sense. This is a movie well worth seeing, and there's a lot of value to be found in reading between the lines when watching it.