Reign Over Me (2007) April 28, 2008
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Mike Binder
The comic actor. A species known more for their skills in the former part of that title than in the latter, although there’s an increasing trend towards our biggest screen comedians taking jobs that many would consider ‘above their weight’. In 2002, Saturday Night Live graduate Adam Sandler took his biggest step away from the lovable comic-idiots that had formed his career (The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy, Big Daddy, and Little Nicky) to star in acclaimed director Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love. He received much praise and surprised many who were unconvinced that Sandler could suitably tone himself down for the role. Since then their careers have followed different paths - Anderson’s next film was to be the Oscar-courting There Will Be Blood [review]; Sandler’s was Mr Deeds. Still, he’s not lost the touch, as this Sandler-starring 2006 movie about pain, loss, love and survival, clearly shows.
The story details the relationship between two men: Alan Johnson and Charlie Fineman - both struggling to find their place in the world, but from opposite sides of the field. Alan has a good life, but feels worn down by the pressures of his family and craves freedom. Charlie, on the other hand, has all the freedom he can handle after losing his family a few years ago. The two used to be college roommates and, after a chance meeting, rekindle their friendship. Seeing the delicate emotional state that Charlie is in, Alan attempts to help him, and therefore himself, face the future.
Written and directed by Mike Binder, the film has a certain presence about it that certainly proves its intentions as a heartfelt piece of work. There are some scenes that really give the story a sold emotional core, namely whenever Sandler and co-star Don Cheadle are together. But equally there are scenes that take away form those intentions, like those featuring Saffron Burrows’ completely out-of-place character. Where the film needs to work, it does, forming a conduit for the emotions of repressed pain and terrible loss to be exemplified without explicit introspective turmoil. Charlie Fineman is indeed the figurehead of inhibited emotion in this film, but the way its ‘we could all use a little help’ narrative takes the time to divert from the norm and tell us: ‘but sometimes we don’t', is admirable in itself. The opening sequence, in which Charlie wanders through New York on his motorised scooter to Graham Nash’s ‘Simple Man’, is indicative of the tone of the movie, and a beautifully inspired beginning to the tale.
In opposition to this, however, the film makes the rather brave (or some might say, ill-advised) choice to invoke the 9/11 disaster into its central story. In a strange way this is both important and completely unimportant, as most movies that have mentioned the tragedy, either through story (like World Trade Centre [review]) or visually (like Spike Lee’s 25th Hour), have been using it to make a wider point, or parallel a character to the state of New York - a city in recovery. Reign Over Me uses 9/11 as merely a plot point, like a car crash or a disease, without ever trying to take the reference further. It’s the first appearance I’ve seen that doesn’t have a bigger relevance behind it, and I actually think its low-key use is adequately handled, but there’s no doubt that its very mention affects your perception slightly. Maybe because you expect a message attached, but if feels odd to have used such a specific event when a faceless tragedy would probably have sufficed.
Either way, the uneven surface of the plot is mostly plastered over by the central performances, not least from male leads Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler. For Cheadle, this is familiar territory - his character is not too dissimilar to the one he played in Crash - but he anchors the film well and gets to let loose a little next to a top-form Sandler, whose ability to not just play the wounded victim, but to inhabit him entirely, is one of the film’s greatest strengths. Charlie’s final breakdown may leave viewers split as to its appropriateness, but it is merely the scripting that is to blame here, as Sandler is clearly giving it his all. Supporting them is Jada Pinkett Smith doing a good job as Alan’s slightly confining wife, while, as previously mentioned, Saffron Burrows gets a rather horribly written part and tries to do her best with it. You’ll also see Liv Tyler show up as a psychologist and director Mike Binder himself, in a completely redundant part that allows him to get his face on screen for a few seconds, and share a line with Donald Sutherland.
Binder may be best sticking behind the camera in the future though, since his script, while up and down on the accuracy of its characters, has enough heart to provoke an emotional reaction, while his direction is assured and perfectly adequate for the job. Many of the comments I’ve read that criticise this film expressed that it was overly sentimental, or didn’t carry enough weight to really open the floodgates come Charlie’s acceptance of his loss. I, on the other hand, thought that it was fundamentally sentimental for a reason, and not mawkish or self-pitying like many other films that deal with this subject matter. It’s a film with solid intentions - a word that covers it against unrealistic expectations - as well as nice performances, and (one character aside) a firm grounding in reality that holds it firmly in place. Not for nothing, but that should mean something in a Hollywood so quick to make sunset-and-roses romantic comedies at the mere mention of a public holiday.
As for Sandler, whether it’s the pressure of always having to be the funny guy that leads comic actors into the dramatic arena, or simply the opportunity to be taken more seriously, it is notable that they rarely make the leap full time. Nor do they want to, I expect, since even the average comedy movie looks like more fun to be involved in than being nominated for a hundred Oscars. Jim Carrey has happily alternated his career since his dramatic breakout in The Truman Show, while Will Ferrell has seen his straighter Stranger Then Fiction [review] role followed by two back-to-basics sports comedies. The same looks true for Sandler, who stared in last year’s I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and the upcoming You Don’t Mess with the Zohan - both out-and-out comedy vehicles. Will we see him back in the realms of the serious again? After this, I can honestly say that I hope so.
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