Reign Over Me
Reign Over Me ****
Directed by Mike Binder
Written by Mike Binder
Starring:
Adam Sandler as Charlie Fineman
Don Cheadle as Alan Johnson
Jada Pinkett Smith as Janeane Johnson
Liv Tyler as Angela Oakhurst
Saffron Burrows as Donna Remar
Donald Sutherland as Judge Raines
Robert Klein as Jonathan Timpleman
Melinda Dillon as Ginger Timpleman
Mike Binder as Bryan Sugarman
124 Minutes(Rated R for language and some sexual references.)
------------------------------
Somehow, Mike Binder manages to create such wonderful films, giving us characters with so much depth and human character that it's almost as if we've known them for years and we only really see them for about two hours. With "The Upside of Anger" setting a bar high for a human drama, "Reign Over Me" manages to even exceed that bar, making me question Lions Gates decision to release Binder's other recent film "Man About Town" directly to video. I may swallow my pride and try to get my hand on that film now, which goes against my rule of never rating a film that came straight to video. But Binder may be worth breaking the rules for. "Reign Over Me" is the third film that I could think of that deals with 9/11, only instead of dealing with what happened during the event like in "United 93" and "World Trade Center", it deals with events that happened afterwards. And it manages to be mainstream without going over dramatic, or pulling us into over-sympathy mode. Binder avoids all the cliches that could have been used in a film like this and tells a human story of tragedy, friendship, and eternal love. And it's also very funny.
"Reign Over Me" is serious fare for Adam Sandler, going beyond the drama that he has done in "Punch Drunk Love" and "Spanglish" and delivers his most intense work. Sandler is phenomenal, and gives a performance that is an early contender for Best Actor at the Oscars next year. Sandler plays Charlie Fineman, a former dentist who now wanders the streets of Manhattan on his electric scooter, buys hardware equipment to redo his kitchen over and over again, or sits on his couch playing video games and listening to music. We learn what happened to Charlie through the eyes of Alan Johnson, a current dentist who went to dental school with Charlie. Charlie lost his wife, three young daughters, and family dog in a plane crash on September 11th, and now he has lost his will to go on. He wants to keep to himself, and ignores the help that is offered to him by his mother and father in law Jonathan and Ginger Templeman. Charlie quit his job and lives off the money that he got from the government after the incident. Alan runs into Charlie and the two start a strange friendship. Charlie trusts Alan, mostly because Alan doesn't know Charlie's family, and Charlie is able to just be how he wants. However Alan tries to get his friend help, and when the two aren't hanging out watching movies, playing video games, or just riding around town, Alan tries to find Charlie mental help and enlists in his friend Angela to do that job. At the same time Alan is trying to avoid the advances of Donna Remar, a patient who tries to have an affair with him, and then threatens to sue the practice when he rejects her.
'Reign Over Me" is part drama, part comedy, and part buddy flick, and it weaves each one of these genres without seeming like a mess. Binder treats the scenes and conversations between Alan and Charlie as if we were watching an actual friendship emerge, giving them something similar to privacy. Binder circles the two of them as they discuss things, and Sandler and Cheadle play it naturally as if the two of them were becoming friends at the same time. The score by Rolfe Kent also helps matters, giving a jazzy type feel similar to the score in "Sideways." It is obviously not all laughs, but Binder manages to throw in some small comedy bits here and there to ease the tension, and just point out that life isn't all drama-there are some funny parts too. Cheadle delivers good work here as usual, and there is fine background work from the eye candy of the cast, Liv Tyler and Saffron Burrows. As usual, Mike Binder casts himself in the role that nobody is really supposed to like, which he also did in "The Upside of Anger." He is always the lowest of the low, the little slimy guy that nobody likes-I wonder if that is supposed to reflect him as a person as well.
I suppose one could question if Sandler was the right person for the role. After all, it's hard to imagine the guy who played "Billy Madison" playing a role where he lost his family in 9/11. But Sandler does everything pitch perfectly, capturing the audience with a certain amount of charisma that one doesn't see often. When the Charlie character finally breaks down and tells Alan his story, you are moved almost to tears. Binder centers Sandler in the center of the frame, so there is nowhere to look but right into his eyes. Sandler manages to have rare command of the audience and this proves even further that he is capable to more than just crude humor-there was even a touch of this in "Click" last June. I never write off any 9/11 films just because they are about 9/11, and nobody else should either. "Reign Over Me" is a film that could probably work if it was just a regular plane crash and not September 11th, but it's still nice to see something about the aftermath as opposed to during. It has also made me think about various other ideas that could be done about the done, and I have managed to formulate two of them since seeing this. "Reign Over Me" culminates with a song by The Who, covered by Pearl Jam, which inspired the title, and it manages to make many of the scenes incredibly moving even beyond the acting. I was seriously touched by "Reign Over Me." It is a film that everyone should give a chance to, and the first great American film of 2007.
Directed by Mike Binder
Written by Mike Binder
Starring:
Adam Sandler as Charlie Fineman
Don Cheadle as Alan Johnson
Jada Pinkett Smith as Janeane Johnson
Liv Tyler as Angela Oakhurst
Saffron Burrows as Donna Remar
Donald Sutherland as Judge Raines
Robert Klein as Jonathan Timpleman
Melinda Dillon as Ginger Timpleman
Mike Binder as Bryan Sugarman
124 Minutes(Rated R for language and some sexual references.)
------------------------------
Somehow, Mike Binder manages to create such wonderful films, giving us characters with so much depth and human character that it's almost as if we've known them for years and we only really see them for about two hours. With "The Upside of Anger" setting a bar high for a human drama, "Reign Over Me" manages to even exceed that bar, making me question Lions Gates decision to release Binder's other recent film "Man About Town" directly to video. I may swallow my pride and try to get my hand on that film now, which goes against my rule of never rating a film that came straight to video. But Binder may be worth breaking the rules for. "Reign Over Me" is the third film that I could think of that deals with 9/11, only instead of dealing with what happened during the event like in "United 93" and "World Trade Center", it deals with events that happened afterwards. And it manages to be mainstream without going over dramatic, or pulling us into over-sympathy mode. Binder avoids all the cliches that could have been used in a film like this and tells a human story of tragedy, friendship, and eternal love. And it's also very funny.
"Reign Over Me" is serious fare for Adam Sandler, going beyond the drama that he has done in "Punch Drunk Love" and "Spanglish" and delivers his most intense work. Sandler is phenomenal, and gives a performance that is an early contender for Best Actor at the Oscars next year. Sandler plays Charlie Fineman, a former dentist who now wanders the streets of Manhattan on his electric scooter, buys hardware equipment to redo his kitchen over and over again, or sits on his couch playing video games and listening to music. We learn what happened to Charlie through the eyes of Alan Johnson, a current dentist who went to dental school with Charlie. Charlie lost his wife, three young daughters, and family dog in a plane crash on September 11th, and now he has lost his will to go on. He wants to keep to himself, and ignores the help that is offered to him by his mother and father in law Jonathan and Ginger Templeman. Charlie quit his job and lives off the money that he got from the government after the incident. Alan runs into Charlie and the two start a strange friendship. Charlie trusts Alan, mostly because Alan doesn't know Charlie's family, and Charlie is able to just be how he wants. However Alan tries to get his friend help, and when the two aren't hanging out watching movies, playing video games, or just riding around town, Alan tries to find Charlie mental help and enlists in his friend Angela to do that job. At the same time Alan is trying to avoid the advances of Donna Remar, a patient who tries to have an affair with him, and then threatens to sue the practice when he rejects her.
'Reign Over Me" is part drama, part comedy, and part buddy flick, and it weaves each one of these genres without seeming like a mess. Binder treats the scenes and conversations between Alan and Charlie as if we were watching an actual friendship emerge, giving them something similar to privacy. Binder circles the two of them as they discuss things, and Sandler and Cheadle play it naturally as if the two of them were becoming friends at the same time. The score by Rolfe Kent also helps matters, giving a jazzy type feel similar to the score in "Sideways." It is obviously not all laughs, but Binder manages to throw in some small comedy bits here and there to ease the tension, and just point out that life isn't all drama-there are some funny parts too. Cheadle delivers good work here as usual, and there is fine background work from the eye candy of the cast, Liv Tyler and Saffron Burrows. As usual, Mike Binder casts himself in the role that nobody is really supposed to like, which he also did in "The Upside of Anger." He is always the lowest of the low, the little slimy guy that nobody likes-I wonder if that is supposed to reflect him as a person as well.
I suppose one could question if Sandler was the right person for the role. After all, it's hard to imagine the guy who played "Billy Madison" playing a role where he lost his family in 9/11. But Sandler does everything pitch perfectly, capturing the audience with a certain amount of charisma that one doesn't see often. When the Charlie character finally breaks down and tells Alan his story, you are moved almost to tears. Binder centers Sandler in the center of the frame, so there is nowhere to look but right into his eyes. Sandler manages to have rare command of the audience and this proves even further that he is capable to more than just crude humor-there was even a touch of this in "Click" last June. I never write off any 9/11 films just because they are about 9/11, and nobody else should either. "Reign Over Me" is a film that could probably work if it was just a regular plane crash and not September 11th, but it's still nice to see something about the aftermath as opposed to during. It has also made me think about various other ideas that could be done about the done, and I have managed to formulate two of them since seeing this. "Reign Over Me" culminates with a song by The Who, covered by Pearl Jam, which inspired the title, and it manages to make many of the scenes incredibly moving even beyond the acting. I was seriously touched by "Reign Over Me." It is a film that everyone should give a chance to, and the first great American film of 2007.
posted by Eric at
8:18 PM
2 Comments:
Very insightful review of the movie...I would disagree with you a bit and say that Adam Sandler was the perfect person for the role given his ability to play off color characters with emotional issues so well, as he did in Punch-Drunk Love. You're right though, he's better known for Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie.
No, I meant to say that Sandler, at a glance, wouldn't SEEM like the perfect person for the role. When I first read about the film about a year ago I was a little surprised to see that he would be taking a part in something like this.
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