The events of September 11th, 2001 claimed not just the lives of those who were on the planes and within the World Trade Center, it also claimed the souls of those who lost loved ones on that day. Reign Over Me is a movie about one such man. His name is Charlie Fineman (Adam Sandler), and up until almost six years ago, Charlie was a loving husband and family man practicing dentistry. His wife and daughters were on one of the flights that would become a part of world history that day. Although Charlie still exists amongst normal people, he has been living in a world of his own ever since that day. He has completely isolated himself both externally and emotionally. He is constantly disheveled in appearance, as if he doesn't even care anymore how the world sees him. He has wiped all pain, and just about every other emotion, from his consciousness and lives an existence built around isolation, classic rock, movies and video games. Reign Over Me is not so much about the most tragic day in US history, but more about what can happen when emotional agony causes what makes us human to completely collapse.

Charlie still has a few shreds of humanity left. He plays drums in a rock band some nights, and rides about New York City on his motorized scooter. Mostly, he stays holed up in his apartment, constantly remodeling the kitchen in different styles, since it was the last thing he talked about with his wife before she died. It's gotten to the point where Charlie has forced himself to forget everything that happened in the past, and now simply remodels out of force of habit. Maybe he doesn't even know why he's doing it anymore. He's distanced himself from the past so much, he doesn't even recognize his old college roommate at Dental College at first. The former roommate is Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle), and he instantly recognizes Charlie when they meet on the street. He had heard about what happened to Charlie, but has not seen him in years. Alan is not sure what to make of the man his old friend has become, but we can tell that he is intrigued. Charlie seems to live in a world of his own. It is a world that frustrates and frightens Alan, but we can also sense a strange sort of envy as well. Alan's wife, Janeane (Jada Pinkett-Smith) eventually senses it too. Even though Alan has what many would consider the American Dream (beautiful home, good family, strong job, etc.), he also wonders what has become of himself lately. He no longer goes out and has fun like he used to. He's forced to work for people who he's obviously smarter than, but who constantly look down upon him. Alan finds himself drawn to Charlie's personal world, as there seems to be very little responsibility and no one he has to answer to. Both men are seeking something different in their lives, although they will not outright admit it.

Mike Binder's Reign Over Me is a film about a lot of things, but most of all, it is about the relationship that these two men form after years of being apart from one another, and who are both leading very different lives from when they last saw each other. Their friendship can best be described as dysfunctional. Alan is constantly on edge about setting Charlie off by saying the wrong thing, or asking about his past. Charlie, on the other hand, has not dealt with very many people since the day he decided to shut himself off emotionally, and so this friendship seems foreign and alien to him. He's forgotten how to act around others, so he often talks too loud, changes the subject at random, and doesn't know how to react to Alan's feelings. It is also a film about emotional healing, and it is a wise decision on the part of the film that it treats the healing process in a realistic light. There is no bow to tie up everything at the end. The last time we see Charlie, we feel like this is not the end for him, but just another small step in a very long road to becoming the man he once was. Binder (who also wrote the screenplay and co-stars in the film as another old friend of Charlie's) focuses all of his attention on making these two characters as fascinating as they deserve to be. Their relationship is unsteady at first, and then realistically builds in a way that does not seem forced or rushed. When they are sitting side by side at the end of the movie, we understand why they are still together because we have been there every step of the way and we can feel the bond that they share.

With such a strong emphasis on character and relationships, the film would have been sunk with the wrong actors in the lead roles. For it's sake, both Cheadle and Sandler deliver some strong performances and a genuine, if not odd, chemistry together. He's sympathetic and caring, but he also gets to display a strong sense of humor at times, which helps the movie from becoming too heavy or depressing. Cheadle has built an impressive career these past couple years, and continues to impress with a very honest and truthful performance. We can sense both his love and frustration for both of his relationships in his life - Not just the one he shares with Charlie, but also with his wife, whom he feels he has grown into a relationship of routine with. In a way, Cheadle's character is not too far removed from Chris Rock's in last week's I Think I Love My Wife, though fortunately Cheadle's final scene with his wife is played straight, and not as a cheesy out of the blue musical number like in the previous film. In the tricky and crucial role of Charlie, Adam Sandler is handed his toughest attempt at a dramatic role yet, and he mostly comes across successfully. Sandler plays a couple of his scenes a bit over the top, but when he is good, he is truly phenomenal. During the key scene where Charlie finally talks to Alan about the day everything changed for him, we see Sandler literally become the character. His performance is haunting during this one sequence, and it almost made me want to forgive him for making Eight Crazy Nights and The Longest Yard. (Almost...) I think Sandler is right for the role of Charlie, as he has a lot of great moments. There are just a couple moments where subtlety flies out the window, and his performance almost becomes a cartoon parody of what it's supposed to be.

Reign Over Me is a very good movie that is not without its flaws that hold it back from being the great one it could have been. As I mentioned, the film does have many scattered lightly comic sequences that help keep things from becoming too heavy-handed or depressing. While I certainly appreciated it, the humor is largely hit or miss. They never become bothersome or seem out of place, but some moments seemed to be trying too hard to lighten the mood. Outside of the central relationship between Charlie and Alan, many of the outside relationships are hardly touched upon. Characters such as Alan's wife and family and a pretty young therapist who Charlie eventually starts seeing (played by Liv Tyler) seem to almost be bystanders throughout the film. They pop up only when necessary, and are not really developed outside of the bare essentials. What is most troubling, and the one thing that took me out of the film more than anything else, is the film's blatant use of product placement. Charlie's favorite video game is an actual game called Shadow of the Colossus. There are numerous scenes where Charlie not only plays the game itself, but the movie cuts away from the actors and shows actual footage of the game itself for an extended amount of time. The movie even finds ways to work the game into the dialogue, especially once Alan becomes hooked as well, and they start discussing actual strategies for the game. I don't know if this was in Binder's original script, but I have my suspicions, especially since Shadow of the Colossus is a game published by Sony's game division, and the movie is released by Columbia Pictures which is owned by (you guessed it) Sony. I really think this was the wrong movie for Sony to advertise their Playstation titles in. It takes us out of the movie, and it really seems like a cheap and desperate ploy.
Looking past the small annoyances and the product placement, Reign Over Me is a very interesting and highly successful drama that achieves what it sets out to do. It's easy to relate to, it hardly ever strikes a false note, and manages to move and touch its audience without falling back on cheap manipulation or overblown theatrics. This movie is filled with people who seem real and genuine, and manages to stay true to its convictions not to cheapen or betray its characters. Charlie and Alan are complex characters, and this is a movie that is worthy enough to hold them. Everyone should be able to see at least a little bit of themselves in the two lead characters. I'm thankful that Mike Binder respects our intelligence enough to let the characters and our realizations grow, instead of forcing the realizations upon us.

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