À coeur ouvert

Don Cheadle once again proves he's better than the material in this misfire about a man reconnecting with his college room mate. The room mate, played by Adam Sandler is a shell of his former self, reduced to wandering the streets since 9/11 took his wive and children. Clearly well meaning this movie is alien in its relationships and motivations. No real person speaks and acts the way many of the characters do. Its all artificial as if in crafting a movie that would offend almost no one they crafted the life out of it. Think 1950's drama with a modern "edge" Its not bad as such, just nowhere near good enough to bother with... or keep watching. And this brings up a question- is it too early for 9/11 to be a cliché? yet again we have another grieving survivor haunted by the last things said. Is this now to be the the way to go? It seems like every 9/11 movie or play has some sort of reference to it. I can't believe that we're finally starting to deal with the event in popular culture and we've already driven right into the rut of cliché

I am not an Adam Sandler fan so I went with to the preview with great trepidation. It was much better than I thought it would be. There is no question that time is getting short when Cheadle will finally get an Oscar. He is really a terrific actor. This is a movie where race does not matter and we need more like it. Cheadle's character could as easily been white as black and Sandler's character could have been any race. It is a pleasure to see a film where the audience is not bludgeoned to death with race or where it is obvious that it would not work without the race card being played. The film does have it's tedious moments - it could have just as easily wrapped itself up on 90 minutes as in 124 minutes. And the story telling is a little ragged. Also some heavy hitter stars have virtually cameo roles such as Donald Sutherland and they don't get their time on screen until you have forgotten they may have been the reason you bought the ticket in the first place. I wouldn't say it is Must See as with Will Smith in Happiness but it is certainly an Ought to See.

I too just came back from a screening -- I just met Adam, Don and Mike. I enjoyed it. It was a slice of life. Funny yet sad, crazy yet perfectly sane. Mike has an interesting way of directing. The soundtrack was amazing. There were elements of the irony of life. As Mike said, it is all about communication and it does a wonderful job at that. I have always like Adam in "serious" roles, and I think that his performance was at his best. Don, as always brought a lot of insight to the character an what the character "feels"

What was this supposed to be? A remake of Fisher King? Why do we care about Sandler's character? What a slow, dreary, boring, who-gives-a-damn-about-these-people movie!!! Just simply painful to sit through, I turned it off before it was over. It's so obvious that Cheadle needs help as much as Sandler; like I said: can you say "Fisher King"? And how does this psychotic character function in his daily life? We aren't supposed to think that deeply, I guess. Why does Cheadle continue to give Sandler a chance to turn violent on him? If they were such good friends, how did they grow apart? If Cheadle is so in control, why does he keep seeking the advice of the shrink on the street? We are never told. That's why Fisher King was a better film on so many levels and why this just sucks. Nearly 8 out of 10 average score? I don't agree. At all. Even the top films are lucky to get such a high average rating, and this crap doesn't deserve to be in the same universe with them.

Wildly uneven movie that kept getting caught in corners with no intelligent, logical way out. It begs so many questions that some must be answered! 1) Who made Adam Sandler think he could act? Being surly and speaking in baby monotones is not acting! Shades of "Time for Wapner"!! 2) Why did the cops not shoot him? This is New York! Would not they have tasered him to death at least? 3) Why do scruffy, hateful, dirty men get all the babes? 4) Can I change my name to Saffron? Maybe I should be Tumeric? 5) Why did Charlie's friends not get him help? 6) How can this not insult anyone that has suffered a loss and not turned into a drooling idiot? 7) How much did all the classic rock artists bid for song placement? 8) Can I get treatment by Liv Tyler? Me so depressed... Seriously, this movie trivialized just about everything related to depression and loss. How a great actor like Don Cheadle survived is beyond me.

Please don't waste your time on this drivel. I thought this movie would be watchable. I respect Don Cheadle and Donald Sutherland's work, even if I was unsure of a dramatic Adam Sandler. It is not the acting that fails so hard, it is the writing. The plot fails on so many levels that the writers must have gotten confused toward the end of the middle when the whole thing went beyond falling apart. Up until then, this movie could have been a 4 or even a 4.5, but man did it spiral out of control with unnecessary, non-sequitur emotional roller coastering plot twists (and character twists). It also is disturbing how the profession of psychology continues to be destroyed by Hollywood films. Reign Over Me has its therapist behaving in reprehensible ways that would be considered unprofessional and counter-therapeutic at best. Don Cheadle was good, and they got their bang for their buck with Sutherland's eyebrows, but I am sure he was reading off cue cards because he wouldn't have done this thing if he had read the script. At least he only had to waste one day "acting" on this set. If you are going to do a movie about losing people in 9/11 have some respect for the subject matter and write a decent film.

The movie is about a guy who experienced loss because of 911. Sadly, the only reason the movie has high ratings is because nobody wants to give a movie involving 911 a low score but honestly it wasn't very exciting. Basically it's about a guy who doesn't want to talk about his past and people are worried about him.... big deal. Really, I don't blame them for using 911 but really, they could have done a lot better. To be honest, you should spend time with your family or friends instead of watching this one.

These filmmakers took so many shortcuts that I left the theater with more questions than you can shake a stick at: -Does simply involving 9/11 in the back-story really expose the viewer's emotional nerves, leading to a more engaging tearjerker? -Are (1) nervous fidgeting and (2) lack of eye contact all an actor really needs to portray any neuroses at all? -Are people really that attached to their Ipods so much that they expect to see the Ipod display that accompanies each soundtrack offering? -If the music video montage is really an engaging experience, why was it abandoned long ago by it's main pusher (MTV)? -Is "broken heart" a viable diagnosis for any psychological condition, at least cinematically speaking? -Did the casting agent not know that placing a mediocre actor (Sandler) across from a fine one (Chaedle) exposes the lesser's lack of ability? -Is the showing of a movie audience enjoying themselves supposed to trick us (as movie audience) into joining them in their enjoyment? -What scenes could have possibly been left on the cutting room floor that would have transformed the truly disturbed fellatio fetishist into a reasonable love-interest? This last question hints at the film's worst failure, that of the terrible editing. Then again, it's not so much that the editor did a poor job. It's more that the task was one hell of a mountain to climb for any editor. What a jumbled mess of discontinuity. They simply tried to do too many things here, being forced into a variety of shortcuts as a result. One last question: Does the video game really pass as a non-laughable metaphor for our main character fighting his personal demons? Discuss.

Reign Over Me is a success due to the powerful work by Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle. While comedic actors going dramatic has been seen as somewhat of a distraction, Sandler is no stranger to playing more serious roles. Most of the characters he portrays have an unstable temperament and a vulnerability that can burst at any moment. He might even be typecast for characters with such hidden anger problems. However, this performance has some considerable dramatic weight, unlike his roles in less comedic fare like Punch-Drunk Love and Spanglish. In the film, Alan Johnson (Cheadle) runs into his old college roommate, Charlie Finerman (Sandler), whom he hasn't seen in several years. Five years before, Charlie suffered the overwhelming loss of his wife and three daughters in a plane crash. Charlie barely even recognizes Cheadle's character due to the repression of his memories and consequent reclusive childish lifestyle since the accident. It isn't until Alan persists in engaging him in conversation that Charlie remembers who he is. Their renewed relationship that follows will allow Finerman to have a friend who doesn't speak about his loss, eventually enabling him to confront the thoughts and feelings he has suppressed on his own terms. Though writer-director Mike Binder doesn't show much sense of an individual style and some of his shots and transitions are a bit awkward, he does have a knack of getting decent to great performances from his actors while being a talented and funny writer. He shot this film with a digital camera, as more and more filmmakers are doing today, enabling the crew to shoot the night scenes with limited lighting. This kept the colorful backgrounds of New York City in focus, but resulted in creating frequent digital grain, which resembles blue specks scattered and moving on the screen. Almost every main character in Reign Over Me gives a great performance. Jada-Pinkett Smith and especially Liv Tyler are memorable in their respective roles as a frustrated wife to Cheadle's character and a psychiatrist. However, it is Sandler and Cheadle that give some of their finest work to date. They completely owned this movie. Sandler actually plays a character that doesn't outwardly resemble or act like himself at all, partially credited to his Bob Dylan-esquire wig. Though Cheadle's character has more screen time than Sandler, they both should be considered to be leading roles, as they equally support and help each other throughout the film. Music also plays a great part in this film, especially the title song "Reign Over Me," or "Love, Reign O'er Me" by The Who, and later covered by Pearl Jam. In one of the most powerful moments of the film, Binder shows Sandler using music to shut out his feelings and memories, but this particular song provokes such intense emotion that rather than diminishing his anger, it incites his emotions. All an all, Reign Over Me is an enjoyable, sad, yet many times funny film, driven by its amazing leading performances.