Reign Over Me

I saw this movie because I like Don Cheadle and I'm trying to give Adam Sandler a chance in serious movies. But P.T. Anderson's Punch Drunk Love this is not. The movie follows Cheadle's character as he sees and re-befriends his old college roommate who lost his whole family in the 9/11 terror attacks. Sandler's Charlie is suffering from PTSD and refuses to even think about his life before. Unfortunately this film has been handled with all the subtelty of a tack hammer to the head.

Director Mike Binder attempts to pull every emotional string he can in the course of this movie and he loads it down with what he considers moving rock songs from his past. Now I like listening to Bruce Springsteen as much as the next guy (actually probably more than the next guy) but the symbolic scene when Sandler and Cheadle 'jam' to a song from the river had one thing going for it, the song. This is a sappy sad story with no real emotional depth but decent performances. You can see Sandler wanting to break out but he holds it in check.

There are two subplots to this film neither of which works in any satisfying way. One involves a bizarrely crazy woman (played by the beautiful Saffron Burrows) who makes a sexual advance on Cheadle, threatens to sue him and then apologizes before falling for Sandler's character. This also helps resolve a weak plotline where Cheadle stands up to his firm partners. The other plot is the struggle in Cheadle's own marriage which gets only the briefest attention and is resolved hurridly at the end.

This bizarre mix of overly bittersweet melodrama and confused side plots makes for quite a mess of a movie.