Reign Over Me

I wish Adam Sandler would make more movies like this. He has all the tools to be a great actor but generally settles for playing a version of himself. Here he is childlike, aggressive, violent, distraught, suicidal, patient and impatient, sometimes in the space of just a few minutes. I would say it is his best performance but I'm biased towards Punch Drunk Love.

I think friendship is one of the hardest emotions to get right in the movies. Off the top of my head I can only think of a couple examples that get it right, Sideways and The Shawshank Redemption. While this movie doesn't quite reach those standards it does get the relationship between the actors right. Their chemistry never seems forced and it feels like the two did know each other in their past.

The film is not perfect but it's emotional core has enough to lift it above its problems. Director/Writer Mike Binder has a knack of putting odd plot points into his movies (the husbands death from The Upside of Anger) and here a few feel forced. I sort of admire that he is willing to try something different though it distracts from the main story.

I was surprised how good the soundtrack is in this. It's filled with mostly rock songs from the seventies but the Rolfe Kent score is also nice. There is also an unforgettable sequence that serves as the emotional center of the film in which Charlie's iPod headphones are around his neck. You can heard Springsteen's Drive All Night bleeding through the headphones and into the scene, serving as the scene music that results in adevastating exchange between the two friends.