An Uneasy Reign
Fraser Holmes
Issue date: 3/3/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
For everyone who doubted the acting ability of funnymen, Jim Carrey and Robin Williams have provided sparkling examples of comedy actors playing brilliant dramatic roles. Williams won his first and only Academy Award as a psychiatrist in Good Will Hunting, and Carrey has excelled as Andy Kauffman, Truman Burbank, and Joel Barish.
Adam Sandler may not be Tom Hanks, but neither is director Mike Binder's Reign Over Me of nearly the same caliber as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, or even Binder's 2005 film, The Upside of Anger.
Sandler's foray into drama is not without promise, but the film is a true waste of incredible talent, including Don Cheadle, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Liv Tyler. And Sandler's deck was stacked against him from the start: Binder wrote the script in expectation of giving Tom Cruise the lead role, but Cruise turned him down. Apparently, Tom's a little smarter than most of us might think.
Sandler plays a former Manhattan dentist named Charlie Fineman who lost his wife and three daughters in the September 11 attacks. The unique nature of Fineman's grief presents the opportunity for a truly new character, but Binder's writing falls victim to numerous and egregious stereotypes that end up making Sandler look corny, fake, and, eventually, just plain dumb.
Nor does he get any help from his co-stars. Cheadle, one of the finest actors in the business, probably plays the protagonist of the film, but Alan Johnson, another Manhattan dentist and Charlie's college roommate, is too stock to allow Cheadle to be anything but trite. Johnson is saddled with a nagging and boring wife (Smith) who he never talks to, a troublesome set of dental patients that he longs to be rid of, and a set of parents who are sick and bickering. More importantly, Johnson is really just Charlie's best friend with little substantial existence outside of that relationship.
If the movie tastes slightly overdone, your cinematic taste buds are well honed. Everything that Binder does he does too much, and everything that's sad becomes overly heavy. Johnson's woes continue as one of his patients make a sexual advance on him in his office, and then sues him for sexual molestation; we later learn that she is suffering through a very messy divorce with a man who led a double life. Charlie, from a combination of his life insurance and government payouts, has become incredibly wealthy and has his in-laws and various others clamoring for his cash. Johnson's wife eventually finds out about Johnson's sexually aggressive patient, and accuses him of infidelity… apparently there's no room for subtlety in the City.
Adam Sandler may not be Tom Hanks, but neither is director Mike Binder's Reign Over Me of nearly the same caliber as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, or even Binder's 2005 film, The Upside of Anger.
Sandler's foray into drama is not without promise, but the film is a true waste of incredible talent, including Don Cheadle, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Liv Tyler. And Sandler's deck was stacked against him from the start: Binder wrote the script in expectation of giving Tom Cruise the lead role, but Cruise turned him down. Apparently, Tom's a little smarter than most of us might think.
Sandler plays a former Manhattan dentist named Charlie Fineman who lost his wife and three daughters in the September 11 attacks. The unique nature of Fineman's grief presents the opportunity for a truly new character, but Binder's writing falls victim to numerous and egregious stereotypes that end up making Sandler look corny, fake, and, eventually, just plain dumb.
Nor does he get any help from his co-stars. Cheadle, one of the finest actors in the business, probably plays the protagonist of the film, but Alan Johnson, another Manhattan dentist and Charlie's college roommate, is too stock to allow Cheadle to be anything but trite. Johnson is saddled with a nagging and boring wife (Smith) who he never talks to, a troublesome set of dental patients that he longs to be rid of, and a set of parents who are sick and bickering. More importantly, Johnson is really just Charlie's best friend with little substantial existence outside of that relationship.
If the movie tastes slightly overdone, your cinematic taste buds are well honed. Everything that Binder does he does too much, and everything that's sad becomes overly heavy. Johnson's woes continue as one of his patients make a sexual advance on him in his office, and then sues him for sexual molestation; we later learn that she is suffering through a very messy divorce with a man who led a double life. Charlie, from a combination of his life insurance and government payouts, has become incredibly wealthy and has his in-laws and various others clamoring for his cash. Johnson's wife eventually finds out about Johnson's sexually aggressive patient, and accuses him of infidelity… apparently there's no room for subtlety in the City.
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posted 1/09/10 @ 12:24 AM CST
I think that it is very interesting play to watch.
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