Reign Over Me 2007

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: A heartfelt but overly schematic movie that, in its attempt to explore the true cost of living one's life in denial, ends up superficial and banal. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: It's better than you'd expect but not as good as you'd like it to be. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: You certainly have to appreciate that Sandler wants to stretch in such a fashion, but you also want material that allows him to do so more convincingly. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The film is slick when it needs to be raw, tidy when it needs to sprawl, and amorphous when it needs to focus. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The story begins to creak badly in the last act, but both Cheadle and Sandler are funny and poignant throughout. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: This is not a simple picture. It's serious, disarmingly funny at times and certainly ambitious, yet diminished by some of the traits that have made the standard Sandler characters so popular. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: There's something creepy about peddling such ideas without thinking through their moral or intellectual downside. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Sandler is remarkable, expertly using the vacancy that defines his dumb-and-dumber comedies as a way to convey Charlie's netherworld. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: For all its flaws, Reign Over Me is still surprisingly affecting. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Although all the talk is about Sandler's performance, Cheadle's is every bit as good. He has a much tougher job, playing straight man to Sandler's semicraziness. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Reign Over Me quietly says that we're our problem friends' keepers. At its worst, the movie is a problem friend. Read more

Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times: Movies about male friendship are often trivialized with the 'buddy' tag, but this one resonates beyond that. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: It's a tough ride, but worth it. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: A sentimental journey of solitude and friendship. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: A strange, black-and-blue therapeutic drama equally mottled with likable good intentions and agitating clumsiness. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Director-writer and former Detroiter Mike Binder (The Upside of Anger) has always had a great movie in him, and it bursts out, emotionally, dramatically, sometimes sloppily yet always honestly, in Reign Over Me. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: It should finally lay to rest the question of whether or not Adam Sandler is to be taken seriously. I mean, Seriously. Read more

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: When Binder isn't stuck on message, the picture has a breezy, inconsequential charm. But in at least two unforgivably manipulative scenes the movie asks us for feelings that it has not yet earned. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Sandler tries to please his existing fan base while also stretching himself to new and unexplored lengths. If you hear something snap, please inform the theater management. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: Reign Over Me closes with, at best, a cautious hope, leaving us more anxious than when we went in, and throughout the film there is a stunned and bewildered air hanging over the city, like a heavy smog. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: There are lots of things in the script that ring false, but the acting is honest, witty and soulful. Sandler's performance is perfectly believable while the weak link, surprisingly enough, is the writing. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Cheadle is good, as always, but Sandler's portrayal of a guy on the perennial brink of a psychotic breakdown is amazing. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Mike Binder's oddball film keeps retreating into fantasy -- as if to avoid precisely the kind of issues that have kept the studios from confronting the legacy of 9/11. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It was a smart move, pulling Reign Over Me from last fall's release schedule. Perhaps the world just isn't ready for an Adam Sandler Oscar nomination. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Reign is a triumph for Cheadle and Sandler, whose performances strew the seeds of regeneration. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Reign Over Me has the best of intentions but, despite its desire to show how the perseverance of a good man can produce profound results, its bungles the attempt. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Reign Over Me is a very gentle picture, intended to soothe us, not to jolt or shock us. But it's so gentle that it lacks any discernible energy. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: Reign Over Me isn't nearly as arresting as it should be given its powerful subject matter. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: When Reign Over Me misfires, it careens out of control. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Reign Over Me drizzles down on us for two full hours, persistently determined to prove that, if it hangs around long enough, a coherent movie will turn up. No such luck. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: At the very least, it puts a whole new spin on Billy Madison. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: Director Mike Binder has twigged on to the fact that if you root Sandler's genially churlish moron act into a more sober foundation, a vulnerable, believable and even lovable character can begin to emerge. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Binder's insistence on pitching everything at the level of either sitcom shenanigans or movie-of-the-week weepiness compromises any significance the subject matter might have. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: This is not a simple, uplifting tale. It's never clear whether Charlie will fully recover, and that sense of realism is the film's strength. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle head a strong cast in this affecting drama of friendship and regeneration. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Binder has set a difficult bar -- to make a funny, sad, original movie about the healing power of not necessarily healing -- and he just manages to clear it. Read more