Reel Opinions


Friday, March 23, 2007

Reign Over Me

The events of September 11th, 2001 claimed not just the lives of those who were on the planes and within the World Trade Center, it also claimed the souls of those who lost loved ones on that day. Reign Over Me is a movie about one such man. His name is Charlie Fineman (Adam Sandler), and up until almost six years ago, Charlie was a loving husband and family man practicing dentistry. His wife and daughters were on one of the flights that would become a part of world history that day. Although Charlie still exists amongst normal people, he has been living in a world of his own ever since that day. He has completely isolated himself both externally and emotionally. He is constantly disheveled in appearance, as if he doesn't even care anymore how the world sees him. He has wiped all pain, and just about every other emotion, from his consciousness and lives an existence built around isolation, classic rock, movies and video games. Reign Over Me is not so much about the most tragic day in US history, but more about what can happen when emotional agony causes what makes us human to completely collapse.

Charlie still has a few shreds of humanity left. He plays drums in a rock band some nights, and rides about New York City on his motorized scooter. Mostly, he stays holed up in his apartment, constantly remodeling the kitchen in different styles, since it was the last thing he talked about with his wife before she died. It's gotten to the point where Charlie has forced himself to forget everything that happened in the past, and now simply remodels out of force of habit. Maybe he doesn't even know why he's doing it anymore. He's distanced himself from the past so much, he doesn't even recognize his old college roommate at Dental College at first. The former roommate is Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle), and he instantly recognizes Charlie when they meet on the street. He had heard about what happened to Charlie, but has not seen him in years. Alan is not sure what to make of the man his old friend has become, but we can tell that he is intrigued. Charlie seems to live in a world of his own. It is a world that frustrates and frightens Alan, but we can also sense a strange sort of envy as well. Alan's wife, Janeane (Jada Pinkett-Smith) eventually senses it too. Even though Alan has what many would consider the American Dream (beautiful home, good family, strong job, etc.), he also wonders what has become of himself lately. He no longer goes out and has fun like he used to. He's forced to work for people who he's obviously smarter than, but who constantly look down upon him. Alan finds himself drawn to Charlie's personal world, as there seems to be very little responsibility and no one he has to answer to. Both men are seeking something different in their lives, although they will not outright admit it.

Mike Binder's Reign Over Me is a film about a lot of things, but most of all, it is about the relationship that these two men form after years of being apart from one another, and who are both leading very different lives from when they last saw each other. Their friendship can best be described as dysfunctional. Alan is constantly on edge about setting Charlie off by saying the wrong thing, or asking about his past. Charlie, on the other hand, has not dealt with very many people since the day he decided to shut himself off emotionally, and so this friendship seems foreign and alien to him. He's forgotten how to act around others, so he often talks too loud, changes the subject at random, and doesn't know how to react to Alan's feelings. It is also a film about emotional healing, and it is a wise decision on the part of the film that it treats the healing process in a realistic light. There is no bow to tie up everything at the end. The last time we see Charlie, we feel like this is not the end for him, but just another small step in a very long road to becoming the man he once was. Binder (who also wrote the screenplay and co-stars in the film as another old friend of Charlie's) focuses all of his attention on making these two characters as fascinating as they deserve to be. Their relationship is unsteady at first, and then realistically builds in a way that does not seem forced or rushed. When they are sitting side by side at the end of the movie, we understand why they are still together because we have been there every step of the way and we can feel the bond that they share.

With such a strong emphasis on character and relationships, the film would have been sunk with the wrong actors in the lead roles. For it's sake, both Cheadle and Sandler deliver some strong performances and a genuine, if not odd, chemistry together. He's sympathetic and caring, but he also gets to display a strong sense of humor at times, which helps the movie from becoming too heavy or depressing. Cheadle has built an impressive career these past couple years, and continues to impress with a very honest and truthful performance. We can sense both his love and frustration for both of his relationships in his life - Not just the one he shares with Charlie, but also with his wife, whom he feels he has grown into a relationship of routine with. In a way, Cheadle's character is not too far removed from Chris Rock's in last week's I Think I Love My Wife, though fortunately Cheadle's final scene with his wife is played straight, and not as a cheesy out of the blue musical number like in the previous film. In the tricky and crucial role of Charlie, Adam Sandler is handed his toughest attempt at a dramatic role yet, and he mostly comes across successfully. Sandler plays a couple of his scenes a bit over the top, but when he is good, he is truly phenomenal. During the key scene where Charlie finally talks to Alan about the day everything changed for him, we see Sandler literally become the character. His performance is haunting during this one sequence, and it almost made me want to forgive him for making Eight Crazy Nights and The Longest Yard. (Almost...) I think Sandler is right for the role of Charlie, as he has a lot of great moments. There are just a couple moments where subtlety flies out the window, and his performance almost becomes a cartoon parody of what it's supposed to be.

Reign Over Me is a very good movie that is not without its flaws that hold it back from being the great one it could have been. As I mentioned, the film does have many scattered lightly comic sequences that help keep things from becoming too heavy-handed or depressing. While I certainly appreciated it, the humor is largely hit or miss. They never become bothersome or seem out of place, but some moments seemed to be trying too hard to lighten the mood. Outside of the central relationship between Charlie and Alan, many of the outside relationships are hardly touched upon. Characters such as Alan's wife and family and a pretty young therapist who Charlie eventually starts seeing (played by Liv Tyler) seem to almost be bystanders throughout the film. They pop up only when necessary, and are not really developed outside of the bare essentials. What is most troubling, and the one thing that took me out of the film more than anything else, is the film's blatant use of product placement. Charlie's favorite video game is an actual game called Shadow of the Colossus. There are numerous scenes where Charlie not only plays the game itself, but the movie cuts away from the actors and shows actual footage of the game itself for an extended amount of time. The movie even finds ways to work the game into the dialogue, especially once Alan becomes hooked as well, and they start discussing actual strategies for the game. I don't know if this was in Binder's original script, but I have my suspicions, especially since Shadow of the Colossus is a game published by Sony's game division, and the movie is released by Columbia Pictures which is owned by (you guessed it) Sony. I really think this was the wrong movie for Sony to advertise their Playstation titles in. It takes us out of the movie, and it really seems like a cheap and desperate ploy.
Looking past the small annoyances and the product placement, Reign Over Me is a very interesting and highly successful drama that achieves what it sets out to do. It's easy to relate to, it hardly ever strikes a false note, and manages to move and touch its audience without falling back on cheap manipulation or overblown theatrics. This movie is filled with people who seem real and genuine, and manages to stay true to its convictions not to cheapen or betray its characters. Charlie and Alan are complex characters, and this is a movie that is worthy enough to hold them. Everyone should be able to see at least a little bit of themselves in the two lead characters. I'm thankful that Mike Binder respects our intelligence enough to let the characters and our realizations grow, instead of forcing the realizations upon us.

1 comments

1 Comments:

  • About the game:

    http://kotaku.com/gaming/top/feature-the-colossus-and-the-comedian-246286.php

    I don't it is product placement, though. The game was released for PS2, and Sony is bent on pushing the PS3 these days.

    By Blogger Juan Frugal, at 9:26 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005
10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005
11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005
12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006
02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006
03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006
04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006
05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006
06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006
07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006
08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006
09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006
10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006
11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006
12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007
02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007
03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007
04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007
05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007
06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007
07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007
08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007
09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007
10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007
11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007
12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008
01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008
02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008
03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008
04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008
05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008
06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008
07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008
08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008
09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008
10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008
11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008
12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009
01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009
02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009
03/01/2009 - 04/01/2009
04/01/2009 - 05/01/2009
05/01/2009 - 06/01/2009
06/01/2009 - 07/01/2009
07/01/2009 - 08/01/2009
08/01/2009 - 09/01/2009
09/01/2009 - 10/01/2009
10/01/2009 - 11/01/2009
11/01/2009 - 12/01/2009
12/01/2009 - 01/01/2010
01/01/2010 - 02/01/2010
02/01/2010 - 03/01/2010
03/01/2010 - 04/01/2010
04/01/2010 - 05/01/2010
05/01/2010 - 06/01/2010
06/01/2010 - 07/01/2010
07/01/2010 - 08/01/2010
08/01/2010 - 09/01/2010
09/01/2010 - 10/01/2010
10/01/2010 - 11/01/2010
11/01/2010 - 12/01/2010
12/01/2010 - 01/01/2011
01/01/2011 - 02/01/2011
02/01/2011 - 03/01/2011
03/01/2011 - 04/01/2011
04/01/2011 - 05/01/2011
05/01/2011 - 06/01/2011
06/01/2011 - 07/01/2011
07/01/2011 - 08/01/2011
08/01/2011 - 09/01/2011
09/01/2011 - 10/01/2011
10/01/2011 - 11/01/2011
11/01/2011 - 12/01/2011
12/01/2011 - 01/01/2012
01/01/2012 - 02/01/2012
02/01/2012 - 03/01/2012
03/01/2012 - 04/01/2012
04/01/2012 - 05/01/2012
05/01/2012 - 06/01/2012
06/01/2012 - 07/01/2012
07/01/2012 - 08/01/2012
08/01/2012 - 09/01/2012
09/01/2012 - 10/01/2012
10/01/2012 - 11/01/2012
11/01/2012 - 12/01/2012
12/01/2012 - 01/01/2013
01/01/2013 - 02/01/2013
02/01/2013 - 03/01/2013
03/01/2013 - 04/01/2013
04/01/2013 - 05/01/2013
05/01/2013 - 06/01/2013
06/01/2013 - 07/01/2013
07/01/2013 - 08/01/2013
08/01/2013 - 09/01/2013
09/01/2013 - 10/01/2013
10/01/2013 - 11/01/2013
11/01/2013 - 12/01/2013
12/01/2013 - 01/01/2014
01/01/2014 - 02/01/2014
02/01/2014 - 03/01/2014
03/01/2014 - 04/01/2014
04/01/2014 - 05/01/2014
05/01/2014 - 06/01/2014
06/01/2014 - 07/01/2014
07/01/2014 - 08/01/2014
08/01/2014 - 09/01/2014
09/01/2014 - 10/01/2014
10/01/2014 - 11/01/2014
11/01/2014 - 12/01/2014
12/01/2014 - 01/01/2015
01/01/2015 - 02/01/2015
02/01/2015 - 03/01/2015
03/01/2015 - 04/01/2015
04/01/2015 - 05/01/2015
05/01/2015 - 06/01/2015
06/01/2015 - 07/01/2015
07/01/2015 - 08/01/2015
08/01/2015 - 09/01/2015
09/01/2015 - 10/01/2015
10/01/2015 - 11/01/2015
11/01/2015 - 12/01/2015
12/01/2015 - 01/01/2016
01/01/2016 - 02/01/2016
02/01/2016 - 03/01/2016
03/01/2016 - 04/01/2016
04/01/2016 - 05/01/2016
05/01/2016 - 06/01/2016
06/01/2016 - 07/01/2016
07/01/2016 - 08/01/2016
08/01/2016 - 09/01/2016
09/01/2016 - 10/01/2016
10/01/2016 - 11/01/2016
11/01/2016 - 12/01/2016
12/01/2016 - 01/01/2017
01/01/2017 - 02/01/2017
02/01/2017 - 03/01/2017
03/01/2017 - 04/01/2017
04/01/2017 - 05/01/2017
05/01/2017 - 06/01/2017
06/01/2017 - 07/01/2017
07/01/2017 - 08/01/2017
08/01/2017 - 09/01/2017
09/01/2017 - 10/01/2017
10/01/2017 - 11/01/2017
11/01/2017 - 12/01/2017
12/01/2017 - 01/01/2018
01/01/2018 - 02/01/2018
02/01/2018 - 03/01/2018
03/01/2018 - 04/01/2018
04/01/2018 - 05/01/2018
05/01/2018 - 06/01/2018
06/01/2018 - 07/01/2018
07/01/2018 - 08/01/2018
08/01/2018 - 09/01/2018
09/01/2018 - 10/01/2018
10/01/2018 - 11/01/2018
11/01/2018 - 12/01/2018
12/01/2018 - 01/01/2019
01/01/2019 - 02/01/2019
02/01/2019 - 03/01/2019
03/01/2019 - 04/01/2019
04/01/2019 - 05/01/2019
05/01/2019 - 06/01/2019
06/01/2019 - 07/01/2019
07/01/2019 - 08/01/2019
08/01/2019 - 09/01/2019
09/01/2019 - 10/01/2019
10/01/2019 - 11/01/2019
11/01/2019 - 12/01/2019
12/01/2019 - 01/01/2020
01/01/2020 - 02/01/2020
02/01/2020 - 03/01/2020
03/01/2020 - 04/01/2020
04/01/2020 - 05/01/2020
05/01/2020 - 06/01/2020
06/01/2020 - 07/01/2020
07/01/2020 - 08/01/2020
08/01/2020 - 09/01/2020
09/01/2020 - 10/01/2020
10/01/2020 - 11/01/2020
11/01/2020 - 12/01/2020
12/01/2020 - 01/01/2021
02/01/2021 - 03/01/2021
03/01/2021 - 04/01/2021
04/01/2021 - 05/01/2021
05/01/2021 - 06/01/2021
06/01/2021 - 07/01/2021
07/01/2021 - 08/01/2021
08/01/2021 - 09/01/2021
09/01/2021 - 10/01/2021
10/01/2021 - 11/01/2021
11/01/2021 - 12/01/2021
12/01/2021 - 01/01/2022
01/01/2022 - 02/01/2022
02/01/2022 - 03/01/2022
03/01/2022 - 04/01/2022
04/01/2022 - 05/01/2022
05/01/2022 - 06/01/2022
06/01/2022 - 07/01/2022
07/01/2022 - 08/01/2022
08/01/2022 - 09/01/2022
09/01/2022 - 10/01/2022
10/01/2022 - 11/01/2022
11/01/2022 - 12/01/2022
12/01/2022 - 01/01/2023
01/01/2023 - 02/01/2023
02/01/2023 - 03/01/2023
03/01/2023 - 04/01/2023
04/01/2023 - 05/01/2023
05/01/2023 - 06/01/2023

Powered by Blogger