I disagree with the All Movie Guide: this film is not a stinker and not a waste of talent or subject. I’d been a little reluctant to see it because I feared it might lean too far in the direction of World Trade Center and shamelessly go for the emotional jugular. 9/11 is emotionally affecting enough; there’s no need to push or manipulate us into the “correct” emotional response, thank you. But the reluctance was unfounded. The film has some flaws but is well-written and appealing. I was never a fan of Adam Sandler’s comedies; he can certainly be funny but in general his comic films have left me cold. He’s turned out to be a talented actor, however; in particular I’d point to Spanglish, Punch Drunk Love and now this film in evidence.
What I liked about the film was its focus—not the tragedy of 9/11 but one man’s groping for a way to deal with his part in that tragedy in his own way and time (without the well-meaning but wrong-headed and intrusive attempts by his in-laws to forcibly direct that healing), and the rekindling of a friendship that is beneficial to both men’s lives. The one worrisome bit was Binder’s injection of a romantic attachment between Sandler’s character and the woman who had been making sexual overtures to Don Cheadle’s character. But far from being a vulnerable innocent, Charlie Fineman struck me as being able to take care of himself. Reign Over Me, taken from the Who’s song “Love Reign O’er Me,” becomes an apt title, as both Charlie and Alan (Don Cheadle) struggle to get out from under imposed controls and become open to loving and trusting those around them again.
Good cast, good turns from all concerned, especially Cheadle and Sandler. Well worth seeing. And anyone who gets the excellence of Quadrophenia and The River will always be OK in my book. ;-)