Though ultimately very different films, Reign Over Me and I Think I Love My Wife (Chris Rock) start with a similar premise. A successful professional man with a wife and young family seems to have it all, but does not. In this case, Alan (Don Cheadle of Crash and Hotel Rwanda) is the lead partner in a successful dental practice. Alan is married to Janeane (Jada Pinkett Smith of Collateral). Their marriage is strained, and a major challenge could very well pull it apart. 

Three events, which occur in close proximity, put them to the test: a potential sexual harassment suit, difficult parents and seeing an old friend.  

One day, Alan runs into Charlie (Adam Sandler of Spanglish, Anger Management), a former college roommate, who is also a dentist. They try to pick up the threads of their friendship. But Charlie is a devastated soul. He lost his wife and three daughters on the plane from Boston that crashed into the WTC on 9/11. Forget about the films World Trade Center or United 93, however. This is not about the terrorists and the moments shortly after those tragic events. Rather, it’s directly akin to the PTS (Post Traumatic Stress) that’s so prevalent in the news now concerning our veterans needing care after being wounded in Iraq. This is not a film about that date, but about how one deals with personal tragedy, no matter what the cause. 

You can feel Charlie’s sadness and the resulting funk. He is able to survive only by not remembering. Life insurance settlements allow him to live well without working. When Alan decides to help his friend, it puts stress on Alan’s marriage when he does crazy things like an all night movie marathon with Charlie. And Charlie is hard to like even though you want to and know you should ¾ particularly when he pops up at your home when everyone is in bed. 

Two of the people that try to help Charlie are in the “system.” Dr. Oakhurst (Liv Tyler from LOTR/ROTK) is a dedicated psychiatrist that really knows how to do her job. Judge Raines (Donald Sutherland of Pride and Prejudice) brings sanity to the judicial system in a way that reminds us of the judge in the Anna Nicole Smith burial decision case. Maybe he is not showboating as much as most of us think. There might be something to everything not being by the book. Possibly, judges should use judgment.   

Charlie eventually gets the help he needs but while the pain of his loss may lessen, it will never go away. The question for all of us is that once you hit a wide, tall and thick brick wall, how do you recover from events that are worse than you can imagine?   

Oscar caliber performances by Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler, as well as a fine supporting cast, that makes you care for them, results in this not being your seen it before, everyday Hollywood comedy.  Hats off to writer and director Mike Binder (The Upside of Anger) for creating a film that masterfully balances comedy with sadness. He’s able to alternately and consistently make the audience roar with laughter one moment and be dead serious the next.  

Yes, the foreshadowing and the meeting between Charlie and Donna (Saffron Burrows of Troy) is a bit too convenient a device to wrap up the film. We still give it four stars, because what precedes the ending would make any conclusion difficult to be realistic and not a downer. 

We like this movie. It’s one of the best films of the year. This almost never happens in March, yet this is the second great film we’ve seen so far. See The Namesake. The title of the movie could have many metaphorical meanings. As the film progresses, this becomes quite clear.