Reign Over Me

Review By: Rocco Passafuime
RoccoPassafuime@TheCinemaSource.com

September 11, 2001 had (and sadly continues) a devastating impact on American society. However in recent years, audiences showed they were ready for many of the stories reflecting the tragic day to be told with films like the visceral United 93 and the moving World Trade Center.

Throughout many of his roles since, comic actor Adam Sandler has revealed to be particularly affected by 9/11 through subtle references to it in films like Anger Management and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Now he takes a more direct and dramatic stab on the emotions affected by that life-changing historic date in Reign Over Me, now available on DVD.

Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle) is a successful dentist. He lives in Manhattan with his wife Janeane (Jada Pinkett Smith) and has built a wonderful, stable family with two daughters.

However, his seemingly insular life takes a turn when he runs into Charlie Friedman (Adam Sandler), his old roommate and friend from dental school, during a chance encounter on the street. Charlie had broken off contact from Alan, and pretty much all his family, since 9/11 when he tragically lost his wife and daughters in one of the plane crashes that infamously toppled the World Trade Center.

Emotionally shattered, living off money from the government, Charlie spends his days wandering around the city, drumming, listening to favorite rock music on either his IPod or on his collection of vinyl albums, or playing video games. As Alan warms up to Charlie, he begins hanging out with his troubled friend, who sees the former as someone who can provide an outlet of further escape from his realities.

Alan’s late-night dalliances with Charlie begin to affect his ability to function at home and work, as he must deal with the loss of his ailing father, a lawsuit by a patient who turns out to be an emotionally-disturbed divorcee (Saffron Burrows), and his growing detachment from his wife and daughters. Soon, he realizes that Charlie’s problems are more than any one person can handle, as Alan turns to a psychiatrist (Liv Tyler) to try and convince his friend to open up about the real sense of loss he tries to deny.

The time seemed to be right for a character drama revolved around 9/11 and its impact on people personally. The references of the day are thankfully mostly subtle with the focus purely on the main characters and their friendship together, which has a universal identification that cuts across cultural and historical lines.

The film has a great cast, with fantastic performances by Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler in particular. After a surprising turn in dramas like Punch-Drunk Love and Spanglish, Sandler continues to particularly show his abilities to better utilize his seemingly one-tracked acting style of the angry, juvenile man-child, with what is often undoubtedly his most visceral performance to ...