Reign Over Me: Movie & DVD Review (2007)

(Originally published 2007)

The Mike Binder drama, "Reign Over Me," stars Adam Sandler as Charlie Fineman, a former dentist who lost his wife, his three daughters and the family dog in one of the planes that crashed on Sept. 11 and who now exists in a haze of denial, not unlike the actor himself.

Over the course of his 18-year film career, Sandler has played a wealth of characters, not one of which has come close to preparing him for a role that demands, above all else, the ability to tap into an unimaginable vein of rage and grief.

His vitae is hardly a virtue. He has been Schecky Moskowitz in "Babes Ahoy," a dimwitted waterboy in "The Waterboy," the lisping spawn of Satan in "Little Nicky." Fond of the uncredited performance, Sandler has popped up as Satan in "Dirty Work," Mambuza Bongo Guy in "The Hot Chick," and Javier Sandooski in "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo."

He’s popular with the masses and he has made millions doing his shtick, but is he really our go-to guy for a movie that uses the events of Sept. 11 as its emotional backdrop? That feels about as right as a weekend call from the doctor’s office, but according to Binder, Sandler is exactly the right guy.

Maybe this is because Binder knows that some of our best comedians also are our best dramatists. Trouble is, Sandler isn’t that actor. In 2002’s "Punch Drunk Love," he went for respect and earned it in his best, most credible performance to date. But in his second stab at drama, 2004’s "Spanglish," he was derailed by a shrieking, steamrolling Tea Leoni and failed to leave a mark.

Now, as Charlie, he is fittingly cast as a man who has regressed into something of a child — he rides a motorized scooter through the streets of Manhattan, he’s addicted to video games, his infrequent stabs at humor seem culled from the playground. But Sandler, decked out in a distracting Bob Dylan fright wig, can’t overcome his own limitations as an actor. The idea that he’s paired opposite Don Cheadle as fellow dentist and former roommate Alan Johnson is no help. Cheadle’s gifts as an actor, which are on full display here, consistently underscore Sandler’s weaknesses.

In a movie that finds Alan reconnecting with Charlie after many years apart, the story stumbles forward, with Alan so disturbed by the depth of Charlie’s shattered state, he makes it his duty to get his old friend the help he needs. On one level, this means earning Charlie’s trust; on another, it means getting him to a psychiatrist, in this case Liv Tyler’s Dr. Angela Oakhurst.

Detracting him from his quest to save Charlie are Charlie himself, who rails against remembering what he wants to forget; Alan’s controlling wife, Janeane (Jada Pinkett Smith), who would prefer that her husband spend more time at home; and Charlie’s in-laws (Robert Klein, Melinda Dillon), who want him institutionalized.

It’s a plot designed to allow actors the opportunity to act, and while Cheadle comes through, the out-of-his-league Sandler, crushed by the weight of the material, never stands a chance.

Grade: C-