REIGN OVER ME [R]
Anyone expecting professional coattail rider Rob Schneider to show up in SNL buddy Adam Sandler’s latest to shout his trademark “You can do it!” is going to be disappointed. What Sandler can do, though, is transition from his career-founding idiot fare to more high-minded projects like Punch-Drunk Love, Spanglish and now this smart dramatic comedy from The Upside Of Anger writer-director Mike Binder. Sandler plays a 9/11 widower who learns to confront his grief after meeting his old college roommate, a complacent dentist played by Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda), and while Oscar may not call this time out, he does show some versatility here, playing his anguished survivor with more than just quirky affectation. Binder balances his story with Cheadle’s mundane home life and chaotic existence at work, where an unbalanced patient (Saffron Burrows) forms an unhealthy fixation. Robert Klein and Melinda Dillon are a nice addition as Sandler’s grieving in-laws, helping prevent Binder from resorting to the manipulative tricks that a less talented storyteller might employ. –Robert Newton