 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Reign Over Me
- Review Date: October 8, 2007
- R
- Genre: Drama
- 2007
Common Sense Media says
Grief-stricken Adam Sandler deals with 9/11.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this isn't an Adam Sandler comedy. Rather, it's a drama about a man's ongoing response to losing his family on 9/11. For much of the film, Sandler's character is ragged-looking, distraught, aggressive, and foul-mouthed -- though he can also be charming in a childish way. His visits to a therapist are mostly sad, as is his eventual lengthy description of his loss. There's lots of swearing and derogatory slang, as well as discussion of suicide (one nearly successful attempt is shown), insanity, institutionalization, and oral sex. Some yelling, pushing, and hitting takes place during a fight, and minor drinking in bar leads to an argument.
What's the story?
When Alan (Don Cheadle) discovers Charlie Fineman (Adam Sandler) shuffling on a New York sidewalk, it's obvious that his onetime college roommate needs help. But even though Charlie is suffering dislocation and depression after losing his wife and daughters in a plane on 9/11, he's not the only character in REIGN OVER ME who could use a sense of purpose and connection.
Is it any good?
A meditation on loss, Mike Binder's film lines up a whole series of victims. As hard as Reign Over Me works to complicate Charlie's grief and rage (he's alternately twitchy and aggressive, frightening and pathetic), it offers a troubling, reductive contrast in one of Alan's patients, Donna (Saffron Burrows). Her "female" response to her own traumatic loss isn't edifying or sympathetic. Instead, Donna is driven into hypersexual stalker-spasms (she repeatedly offers Alan oral sex in his office). Her aggressiveness scares Alan and intrigues Charlie, who is mostly lost in an adolescent fixation on her breasts -- at least until she becomes his means to redemption.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the lingering effects of 9/11 on our culture. How have the media treated the event? How do tragic stories and images help us work through emotional wounds? How does Donna's trauma affect her differently than Charlie's affects him? Why do you think Charlie is so fond of popular culture that reminds him of his youth (comics, '80s bands, video games, etc.)? How does the media help define an era?
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AGE
very good
i think it is a good movie to see if u want to see what the impact on a person that lost everything from 9-11 i wish it wasn't rated R so i can see it by myself!!! but adam sandler is the best actor ever.
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AGE
Great movie, even though there is the swearing you don't tend to notice it as much when your paying attention to the grieving messed up guy. Excellent show, I have recommended it to others. Not a comedy... Adam Sandler does the swearing in the movie, but that should be a given.
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AGE
great for discussion when watched with an adult
good example of Christlike love
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AGE
Excellant film good for the average teenager
This is truly a great film. It is a study of greif, loss, coping, and male friendship. Sandler gives the performance of his carreer as a man suffering trauma, and Don Cheadle backs him up, giving a powerhouse performance. This is a film that, while it certainly won't appeal to most teenagers, is certainly one to be enjoyed by them. The language is fairly coarse, but it is probably about 1/3 as bad as the average stuff they hear in the school cafeteria.
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| Studio: | Sony Pictures |
| Director: | Mike Binder |
| Cast: | Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle, Jada Pinkett Smith |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run time: | 128 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | March 22, 2007 |
| DVD release date: | October 9, 2007 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | language and some sexual references. |
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