Reign Over Me

March 25, 2007

I’m going to disagree with seemingly every critic in America and give Reign Over Me a thumbs-up. I’d probably like any movie with Don Cheadle in it, who has been one of my favorite actors since I first started paying attention to him after his performance in Devil in a Blue Dress. Cheadle gives another amazing performance here… effortless and convincing even when the script isn’t necessarily helping him. And– again unlike the apparent critical consensus– I think Adam Sandler does a hell of a job playing the emotionally damaged, PTSD suffering family man who has lost his family. I actually enjoyed Punch Drunk Love too, mostly because of Sandler’s performance, so what do I know?

I think many of the film critics problems miss the point of the movie. This isn’t an epic post-9/11 film. It’s at heart a small presentation, an observation in close-up. I guess I can see why commentators might then mistake small gestures for failed attempts at sweeping movements. Sandler’s character gets better, but not in the way you might expect. He isn’t insane and there’s nothing a mental hospital can do with his affliction. Cheadle’s character is dealing with relatively small issues, but we don’t live our lives in constant comparison to others– his problems are as real and difficult as anyone else’s. I like movies that can make me tear up and laugh at the same time, and this one does that.

The only really hollow note was Liv Tyler as the concerned (and insightful) therapist. The movie points out the obvious issue of age, but that’s not the only problem with this bit of miscasting. This is balanced out a bit by the wonderful, and until now unknown to me, Saffron Burrows, who manages to make a part that perhaps no actress could really pull off into one that works… and she looks exquisite doing so.

Tags: film