4/4  special
If you want an action-packed romance or a movie that will have you in tears then no, this isn't the movie for you. But if you wish to hear the story about how broken people - normal, non-dramatic people - can be healed by love, don't miss ... (read full)

3/4  Touching and sad with a good ending.
I thought that Adam Sandler did a great acting job in this movie. It was a really different role for him and I thought he pulled it off well. I thought that the movie was a bit slow in places, but I overall really enjoyed it. I thought it ... (read full)

1/4  Cardboard.
A movie that carries a hefty hallmark "made for t.v." quality. Which equals - Murky performances, Poor pacing, Raggedy dialogue, and an attempt to smother you with sappy, sticky Emotion. (which of course turns out all wrong.)

I sense t... (read full)

0.5/4  Reign Over Me Quick Review
I refuse to believe that 23,000 people rated this an average of 7.8 on IMDB. This movie is terrible, unbelievable, poorly written, poorly acted, etc. I don't think the audience of this movie would know what to do if a good movie bit them.

5/5 What a great film
  by Adam T. Weed (Juneau alaska)
This movie was awesome. Great story about friendship! You need to at least rent this baby, it's worth the time.

5/5 Everyone processes loss differently
  by R. Kyle (USA)
Some people erect altars to the people who're gone. Others carry those memories in their hearts and see their lost ones in faces on the street, flowers, butterflies. Everyone mourns differently and takes their own time to process those feelings. This film is a tale about deep mourning and learning to respect differences in how people react to shock and tragedy.

"Reign on Me" is a tale of loss and how different people deal with it. Charlie Fineman (Sandler) lost his wife and three daughters on 9/11. His in-laws lost their only child and their three grandchildren.

And that loss still haunts Dr. Alan Johnson (Cheadle) several years later. When he sees a long-haired Charlie on the street, he calls out to his old college room-mate and tries to help. Initially, Charlie doesn't even remember Johnson, but he repeats the college memories like a mantra holding on to one sane part of his life. Johnson's 'safe' you see, he never knew Charlie when he had a family and cannot remind him of his loss and that's how he manages to get in.

But the story's not just about Charlie. Alan Johnson has problems of his own. He won't admit them initially, but he stops and talks to the building shrink every day. He loves being a dentist, but he is tiring of putting veneers in people's mouths. In the end, by reaching out to help a friend, Johnson finds himself and is able to begin healing his own pain.

"Reign on Me" is the finest performance of both Cheadle and Sandler's careers. It's not just a film but an opportunity to explore your own life and grief via the screen. This is definitely a film I would recommend to people who've lost someone they care about when they're ready to watch.

Rebecca Kyle, September 2009




2/5 A perfect bummer of a movie
  by Bradley F. Smith (Miami Beach, FL)
Now, who would watch this, really? A former dentist whose family was killed on 9/11 suffers from PTS while Don Cheadle tries to snap him out of it for two hours. There are no laughs, but, strangely, there are no tears here either. It's just an unrelenting downer, though it does have a somewhat Hollywood ending. Sandler's mumbling gets annoying, and when he tries to commit suicide by cop, he still ends up free, which probably would never happen in real life. Watch this if you want to be bummed out for two hours.

4/5 Sombre but amazing, thought-provoking
  by Nicole Bradshaw (Jackson, MS USA)
Reign Over Me is an amazing and ultimately uplifting film.

The movie tells the story of Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle), a Manhattan dentist who's feeling a bit stifled by his life. Everything looks good from the outside - a successful dental practice, a beautiful wife that loves him, sweet kids - but he finds himself oddly closed off and non-communicative.

Alan is driving one day, and he catches sight of Charlie Fineman (Adam Sandler), his college roommate from dental school. Alan knows that Charlie lost his wife and three daughters in the Sept. 11 attacks (five years ago in the world of the movie). Though Alan has tried numerous times since then to make contact with Charlie, he's been unsuccessful. Eventually, Alan and Charlie reconnect, and Alan discovers that Charlie has steadily slipped away from reality since his horrible loss.

As the two men re-establish their friendship, they find they both benefit in different ways from being with one another. Alan feels less pressured by career and family obligations, and Charlie begins to confront the death of his family and what it has meant for him.

Though the storyline sounds grim, I laughed alot during this movie. Cheadle and Sandler both give solid performances (especially Cheadle - he is freaking amazing in this), and their joy at rediscovering one another makes for some wonderful moments on screen. Liv Tyler plays a sweet supporting role as a grief and loss counselor, and Donald Sutherland gives a dead-on fabulous cameo as an irritable judge.

Despite the tragic timbre of the story, I never found it maudlin or emotionally manipulative. It seemed effortless. "This is what loss is like. This is what grief can do to you. This is how you can start to come out of it." The movie felt very true, somehow.

And it leads the viewer to ask some questions of him/herself. I mean, if I lost my family all at once like that, I like to think I'd be able to cope with it, but could I? How does one get past such a thing? How does one avoid becoming emotionally crippled by such devastation? It is both interesting and awful to ponder.

4/5 Touching movie that's well done
  by Alan Starr (Lawrence, MA)
Really good movie about two guys who are trapped in their lives - one by tragedy, one by stagnation. I actually really like Adam Sandler when he does serious roles (Spanglish, Anger Management), much moreso than his comedies. He plays the same character a bit, but it works for me. And Don Cheadle is really strong as his counterpart who tries to help Sandler (who has lost his way after losing his family in the 9/11 attacks). Some mediocre subplots get in the way of this being a 5-star movie, but I was still completely sold on the characters, both by the writing and by the acting.