Review: Reign Over Me

Last night my girlfriend and I ventured to the theater to check out the new film Reign Over Me. Personally, I felt the trailer was one of the best I've ever seen, and the little 30 second snip had me captivated like nothing has ever captivated me before. The leading tandem of Adam Sandler & Don Cheadle was amazing, with a supporting cast of Jada Pinkett Smith, Donald Sutherland, & Liv Tyler. The song in the trailer was, The Fray - How To Save A Life, which is a personal favorite.. so let's just say that my expectations on this movie were through the roof.



So let's get to it.

I loved this film. The first hour or so was good, but not great. The relationship between Sandler & Cheadle was slowly developing and it needed some time. The friction between Cheadle and his wife, (Smith) was becoming quite clear, and his growing friendship with his old college roommate was something he desperately needed. Sandler, who lost his family on 9/11, is messed up. He has completely cut that part of his life off, and bonds with Cheadle since he has no recollection of Sandler and his deceased family.

When something arises in their conversation that pertains to Sandler's past, he erupts like nothing you've ever seen before. These "eruptions" give a great indication of how much suffering this man has been through, and is continuing to go through.

This movie becomes "great" in a span of five minutes around the middle of the movie. The scene consists of Sandler, Cheadle, and Tyler in the lobby of Tyler's office. It is in this scene that we see honesty for the first time, and the demons are unleashed. This scene, and the few that followed between the two, were more than enough to put this movie over the top. Some of the better dialogue in a movie that I've seen in the past few years.

It is the comradery between Sandler & Cheadle that puts his movie on the pedestal where it belongs. This "friendship" puts this movie in an elite category that I refer to as "Timeless". Any person, any where, at any time, could watch this movie and relate to it.

Performances by Sandler & Cheadle took this above average plot, and turned it into an excellent film.

Two thumbs up from this viewer.



[edit on 15-4-2007 by chissler]

Thanks C! Your opinion matters. I'll go see it for sure even though I don't think I have missed a Sandler film yet.

Originally posted by whaaa
I'll go see it for sure even though I don't think I have missed a Sandler film yet.

Neither have I. I actually own, and really enjoyed, Spanglish.

Sandler is one of my all-time favorites, and Cheadle is quickly becoming a personal favorite. These two are amazing on the screen together. They'll make yah laugh, and they'll make yah... uhhh.. "not laugh".