First things first:  Reign Over Me is far from a perfect film.  Let’s get the missteps out of the way—Liv Tyler is horribly miscast as a psychiatrist; the role should have gone to someone older.  There is some awful dialogue that will make you cringe (mostly from the likes of Melinda Dillon and Donald Sutherland).  Finally, there is an annoying and completely unnecessary side-plot that detracts from the overall power and impact of an otherwise compelling story.

Flaws aside, Reign Over Me stands as one of the most emotionally powerful films to come along in some time.  One thing for sure, this film cannot be categorized as a “feel-good” movie.  However, one has to be emotionally dead not to feel something  after viewing it.  Love it or hate it; you cannot be indifferent.

Adam Sandler has joined the likes of Robin Williams, Bill Murray and, more recently, Will Ferrell as a comedic actor who excels in dramatic roles when given the proper material.  So good in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love, Sandler is even better this time around as Charlie Fineman, a man whose wife and three young daughters were on board one of the planes that slammed into the World Trade Center on September 11. 

Fineman, broken and despondent over his loss, retreats into a world of seclusion and isolation.  Buffering himself with the constant noise of music in his headphones, Charlie has become a shell of the person he was.  Once a clean-cut professional, he is now disheveled and spends his time playing video games, meandering through town on a motorized scooter and repeatedly remodeling his kitchen. 

Providentially, Fineman crosses paths with old college roommate Alan Johnson (played with marvelous subtlety by Don Cheadle).  Johnson, in contrast, has it all:  a lucrative dental practice, a devoted (if somewhat controlling) wife, and two young daughters.  Seizing the chance to renew a friendship, Johnson attempts to reach out to his old friend.  Fineman has no recollection of their friendship, however.  Matter of fact, Fineman doesn’t seem to have any memories of all.  Suppressing everything to do with the past, Fineman has retreated into his own private reverie—or, as Johnson calls it, “Charlie World.” 

Johnson is torn between admiring the careless freedom that Charlie enjoys and trying to help him acknowledge and cope with the loss of his family.  Armed with the best of intentions, Johnson drags Fineman into confronting the painful emotions of death and loss—with harrowing results both for Fineman and the viewer.  Not for the faint-hearted, this film packs such an emotional punch that you literally feel it in your gut.

Screenwriter and director Mike Binder does an adequate job but, sometimes, it feels like he is in over his head.  Instead of dealing with the relationship of Fineman and Johnson head-on, Binder tries to ease the tension with the aforementioned subplot, bad attempts at comic relief complements of Johnson’s receptionist, and yet another sideplot dealing with sexual harassment.  In the case of this film, more is not necessarily better. 

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