Reign Over Me Critic Reviews

Sandler (never making a false step while maneuvering though vertiginous mood swings) and Cheadle (deftly commingling instinctive decency with quiet desperation) are individually excellent, and bring out the best in each other. And the picture itself transcends its real but relatively minor flaws to score a satisfyingly potent impact.Read the full review

It doesn't exploit our emotions about Sept. 11; it simply tells a story that exists because of what happened that day -- one that should resonate with a wide, appreciative audience.Read the full review

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 the full review

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 the full review

At its heart a simple story about friendship and loss, carried over with enough genuine feeling to excuse its uncertain footing.Read the full review

A strange, black-and-blue therapeutic drama equally mottled with likable good intentions and agitating clumsiness.Read the full review

In its best moments, Reign Over Me quietly says that we're our problem friends' keepers. At its worst, the movie IS a problem friend.Read the full review

Movies about male friendship are often trivialized with the "buddy" tag, but this one resonates beyond that.Read the full review

Reign Over Me uses the rhythms and moods of comedy to explore, and also to contain, overpowering feelings of loss, anger and hurt. And like that earlier movie ("The Upside of Anger"), this one is maddeningly uneven.Read the full review