Reviewed by Max Foizey.

Release Date: March 23, 2007
Directed By: Mike Binder
Starring: Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle, Liv Tyler
Rating: R

Only love
Can make it rain
The way the beach is kissed by the sea
Like the sweat of lovers
Laying in the fields

So said Pete Townshend in his song 'Reign O'er me' from The Who's 1973 masterpiece "Quadrophenia." There are no signs of Mod Rockers or Vespa scooters in the film "Reign Over Me" (I'm at a loss as to why they would change the title ever so slightly). This is a film about love, loss, and friendship, and it almost completely works.

Alan Johnson (Cheadle) is a successful dentist who runs into his old college roommate Charlie Fineman (Sandler) after many years. Charlie used to be a dentist as well, but quit after losing his family in the 9/11 attacks. As the old roommates rekindle their friendship, Alan comes to realize Charlie has quit doing most things besides playing video games and listening to music. It's evident Charlie is in a great deal of pain, and he refuses to even acknowledge he ever had a wife and children.

Only love
Can bring the rain
That makes you yearn to the sky
That falls like tears from on high

Sandler is more in his "Punch-Drunk Love" mode than in his "Click" mode here, and the role of Fineman (love that name!) asks for more out of Sandler than any role he's had. Adam rises to the occasion, and I hope audiences give him a chance, because I think it's a startling performance. Don Cheadle is one of those actors you forget is as good as he is, until you're watching him on screen. His work here is understated and endlessly interesting.

The supporting actors, from Jada Pinkett Smith to Donald Sutherland, bring their A-Game to each of their scenes. Liv Tyler hits every note perfectly as a psychiatrist who tries to help Charlie out. This would be my favorite role she's ever had, if it were not for her performance in Steve Buscemi's underrated "Lonesome Jim."

On the dry and dusty road
The nights we spend apart alone
I need to get back home to cool cool rain

When you're dealing with such heavy subjects, it's easy for reality-based films to wander too far into fantasy territory. That's why I was impressed how most of these characters act surprisingly life-like...except for the one weak spot in the film: Saffron Burrows.

Not only is her character totally unbelievable, but in a film that respects believability, it features a particularly insulting wrap up with Burrows' character that seems to serve in making sure the audience knows 'everything is going to be OK.' Whatever happened to films that weren't afraid to take their characters to darker places, like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?" Thankfully the rest of the film doesn't feel the need to coddle, and, except for the last five minutes, I highly recommend it.

Oh, and Sandler on a scooter is the stuff of movie legend. Mark my words.

I can't sleep and I lay and I think
The night is hot and black as ink
Oh God, I need a drink of cool cool rain

In addition to hosting 'Max on Movies' on Sunday nights at 7pm on 97.1 FM Talk, Max appears weekly on the Dave Glover Show Fridays at 5pm. A member of the Saint Louis Gateway Film Critics Association, Max has written about film and theatre for various print and Web media, and appeared as guest critic on various nationally syndicated radio shows. Max lives in Missouri and is a diehard Miami Dolphins fan. Whether you go to the theatre or watch this on DVD, make sure you stick around for the entire end credits. You'll hear a blazing version of The Who's "Reign O'er me" by Pearl Jam. It's worth hearing if only for Eddie Vedder's vocals, which undoubtedly sound so impassioned because he's been singing along to that tune since he was nine years old.