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'''Reign Over Me''' is a 2007 drama film written and directed by Mike Binder. The film stars Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle, Jada Pinkett Smith, Liv Tyler, Donald Sutherland, Saffron Burrows and Binder himself.
Distributed by Columbia Pictures, the film is rated R for language and some sexual references by the MPAA and was released on March 23, 2007. The film will be released to DVD on October 9 2007.

Contents

Plot

Tagline

Soundtrack

Cast

Reception

Trivia

See also

Notes

External links

Plot

Charlie Fineman (Adam Sandler) has completely shut himself off emotionally from the outside world. During the attacks that occurred on September 11th, he lost his wife, three daughters, and family dog. By chance, Charlie is reunited with his old college roommate, Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle). Alan, a successful but unhappy dentist, recognizes Charlie's grief and attempts to rekindle their friendship and bring Charlie out of his depression.
Charlie uses noise-cancelling headphones and a disheveled, Bob Dylan-esque appearance (poofy hair and an unstylish long jacket) to insulate himself from any contact or reminder of the upper middle-class world where he enjoyed life with his adoring family (a wife; daughters age 5, 7, and 9; and a poodle). He tools around Manhattan on a motorized scooter which he uses for quick getaways from unpleasant encounters.^[1]
Johnson's situation is the inverse of Charlie's. Charlie gave up dentistry after 9/11, while Johnson leads a clinic with six dentists. Charlie maintains a dissheveled appearance and hides in his apartment fiddling with his record collection, playing videogames, remodeling his kitchen or behind a drum kit in a seedy club playing rage rock; Johnson's grooming and apparel and demeanor are so attractive that women are constantly hitting on him at work. Charlie apparently only knows three people: his landlord, an exploitative bar owner and an accountant named Sugarman (Mike Binder), using his interaction with them to enable him to stay isolated. Johnson knows many people but is not emotionally close to any of them, not even his wife Janeane (Jada Pinkett Smith). He never listens to his daughters, gets blown off by his receptionist, and his dental partners refuse to back him when a patient named Donna Remar (Saffron Burrows) threatens a phony sexual harassment lawsuit after he rebuffed her sexual advances in his office. She later tells him though that she had gone through a rotten divorce after she learned that her husband of ten years had cheated on her with another woman for the last five of them and she has been since unable to recover from her emotional distress, and embarrassed about her sexual advances toward Alan, she drops the lawsuit.
When Johnson spots Charlie for the first time since their college days, it takes him two tries to connect. Johnson is surprised that Charlie doesn't recognize him, and it takes quite a bit of effort to convince him they were once friends. After Johnson is able to convince him, Charlie becomes enthusiastic and they rekindle their friendship, going on nightly outings in the city that upset Johnson's wife.
Attempts by Johnson to bring up Charlie's dead family result in outbursts of rage and violence from him. The first time, in the seedy bar where Charlie plays the drums in a band, teetotaler Charlie demands "Who sent you?" and throws root beer in Johnson's face. The second time, he trashes Johnson's dental office.^[2]
Charlie's internal situation is well-described by the movie's main soundtrack choice, Love Reign O'er Me (from the classic The Who album Quadrophenia, with a cover done by Pearl Jam).
:''Only love can make it rain ...
:Love, reign o'er me (reign over me).''
The song expresses both rage and despair. In it love is seen as an antidote to dust and heat (''cool, cool rain'') - and also as a welcome ruling force ('reign o'er
me').
Torn from the love of his family, Charlie becomes depressed and shuts out all the pain with drumming, collecting old LP's and playing the Sony video game ''Shadow of the Colossus''.^[3]
Johnson has been trying inappropriately to get informal psych help from Angela Oakhurst (Liv Tyler) by repeatedly following her outside the skyscraper where they both work. Oakhurst is a young female therapist in his office building, and easily recognizes that Johnson's 'friend' situation is really his own. After fruitless attempts to help Charlie himself or set him up with a middle-aged (male) therapist, Alan gets her to take Charlie on when Charlie agrees that he needs help. Their sessions are short, and Charlie ends them the moment she asks any questions about the "thoughts" he's been avoiding. At the end of the third session, Oakhurst warns him that he eventually has to tell his story to somebody if he wants to heal his wounds.
Eventually Charlie finally opens up to Johnson (overheard by Dr. Oakhurst) and shares about his family. Memories of his family rush back into his mind and the sensation becomes too much for him to handle. He gets intoxicated and unearths a gun from a pile of boxes but no bullets. He goes outside and points his empty gun at a taxi driver, drawing the attention of two patrolling policemen. The cop's partner blindsides Charlie, tackles him, and the two cops slam him against a wall three times. The city decides not to press charges against a "9/11 widower beat up by two cops" but insist on a 3-day psych evaluation. Charlie is released, thanks to Johnson and Angela but must attend a hearing to determine whether or not he will be institutionalized.
Johnson, Donna, Adell (Charlie's landlord), Oakhurst, and Sugarman all attend the hearing, where the young prosecutor uses pictures of Charlie's family to trigger outbursts from him. He tries to tune the memories out by shouting out the tune of "Love Reign O'er Me" out loud. The judge (Donald Sutherland) recognizes that the prosecutor is young and incompetent, and begins to believe that the case is largely based in a family dilemma between Charlie and his in-laws (whom Charlie has been avoiding since 9/11), the closest thing to family he has now. The judge gives the power to his in-laws to decide if he should be institutionalized, and warns them of the seriousness of the power he has placed in their hands.
After overhearing Donna saying that he just has a broken heart and that the court doesn't understand that, Charlie hesitantly but forthrightly speaks to his in-laws about "seeing" his wife, kids and even the dog in strangers he encounters - which for him are even more vivid reminders than the photos his father-in-law carries in his wallet.
Finally, Johnson conspires with Fineman to help him move out over the weekend (before the final hearing, which never transpires on screen). Johnson meets the in-laws at the empty apartment, which is spotless and has a beautifully remodeled kitchen, and asks them to let Fineman go. They agree. Then Johnson sets up Charlie with Donna. Johnson calls his wife and discovers that he has hope that he can once again enjoy the company of his family. He then hops on Charlie's scooter, and heads home.

Tagline

★ ''Let in the unexpected.''

★ ''Live every day like it's the best day of your life.''

Soundtrack

The title of the film comes from the song "Love, Reign o'er Me" by The Who. The song appears on the film's soundtrack along with a cover version recorded specifically for the film by Pearl Jam. Also, the song that plays in the trailer on TV is Ashes by UK band Embrace.

Cast

Actor	Role
Adam Sandler	Charlie Fineman
Don Cheadle	Dr. Alan Johnson
Jada Pinkett Smith	Janeane Johnson
Liv Tyler	Dr. Angela Oakhurst
Saffron Burrows	Donna Remar
Donald Sutherland	Judge Raines
Mike Binder	Bryan Sugarman

Reception

''Reign Over Me'' currently holds a 63% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes. General praise has been awarded to the performances of Sandler and Cheadle, while many flaws in the film have been traced to the screenplay.[3] The film opened in 1,671 theaters with a $4,465 per theater average, giving it a total gross of $7.5 million for the weekend. It ended its theatrical run with a domestic total of $19.7 million and an international total of $1.2 million, making a total gross of $20.9 million, thus making back its $20 million budget.[4]

Trivia

★ Tom Cruise and Javier Bardem were initially signed on to play Adam Sandler's role and Don Cheadle's role, respectively. When Cruise dropped out, Bardem suggested Sandler for the part because he enjoyed Sandler in Punch-Drunk Love. Then Bardem dropped out of the project, so Cheadle was brought in. Brad Pitt was also considered for the role that ultimately went to Adam Sandler.

★ At first Adam Sandler declined his part because he was terrified of it, although he thought the character was incredible after he read the script. A month later, he reread the script and decided that he wanted to do it.[5]

★ Every song that's played in the background is either played on Charlie's iPod or has its album mentioned by Charlie.

★ The film was shot partly using the Panavision Genesis camera system and edited using Apple Inc.'s Final Cut Pro software.

★ The girl Charlie falls for is named Donna, the same name as Adam Sandler's wife in Click.

See also

★ September 11, 2001 attacks in popular culture

Notes

1. The scooter itself is just powerful enough to make it technically illegal in New York City, which permits electric scooters but has banned engine-powered ones like Charlie's. He's a bit of an outlaw.
2. What he destroys here is symbolic of his grief: pictures torn from the walls, and lamp like his mother-in-law's favorite.
3. Editor Jeremy Roush explains, "You could see where someone who was dealing with 9/11 would be engrossed by a giant that keeps collapsing over and over again."[2]

External links

★ Official site

★

★

★ Reign Over Me Screening in Berkeley, CA with Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle and director Mike Binder on ''Sidewalks Entertainment''

★ The Colossus and the Comedian (From Kotaku, discusses integration of ''Shadow of the Colossus'' game in ''Reign Over Me'')