Reign Over Me

Reign Over Me is the story of Charlie Fineman (Adam Sandler), who’s entire family was killed on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center during the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. Expectedly, the incident breaks the man's heart and he has several mental problems because of this. The story is told from the perspective of Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle) who was Charlie’s roommate in dental school, and who hadn’t seen Charlie for several years and only heard of his tragedy through the media. Since dental school, Johnson (as he is referred to by his last name throughout the movie) had built a highly successful practice, while Charlie quits his after the crash. One day during his evening commute, Johnson happens to run into Charlie and reacquaints and befriends himself with Charlie and eventually gets him help.

There is an underlying story to the movie that these two men both have issues and that through their friendship, they are able to find their way through them together. Although Charlie’s problems are worn on his sleeve for the world to see, Johnson is successful in hiding his problems from everyone accept a psychiatrist that works in his building, who he waits at the curb for each night to ask advice. He has a wonderful life and loves his wife and daughters; however, he has been estranged by his partners because of some work issues, and has no friends outside of work and home. He longs for the chance to just have some “time with the guys” and just a bit of “space”. Hanging out with Charlie fills this need, and somewhat unexpectedly, Charlie also gives Johnson the courage to open up to his wife and confront his partners.

I don’t know if it was by design or just that I didn’t catch on at first, but there seemed to be a subtle shift of perception as the movie progressed. It was this shift that was the highlight of the show for me. I love it when movies do that. At the beginning of the show, Charlie seemed to be straight up crazy. But as you learned his story and understood more about him, you realized that he was in fact just extremely broken hearted. Whereas all those around him were confused and lost, Charlie knew exactly what he wanted and was coping with having lost his dream. As those around him began to realize this about Charlie, they too began to look inward to understand what they too wanted, and they began to wonder if it wasn’t in fact they themselves who were crazy and that Charlie was the sane one.

I thought that the movie was fairly sad for the majority of the time, but at the end I came away feeling that Charlie was very lucky. He knew exactly what he wanted and had achieved it, and although he lost it all, he at least had it for a while, which is more than most other people can say. That sense of accomplishment for Charlie, and the friendship formed between Charlie and Johnson are the strengths of this movie. It was somewhat saddening, dragged in some parts, and took on a difficult task with the subject matter, but overall it was an enjoyable show.

3 stars