... he puts out a movie like "Reign Over Me" and immediately earns my respect.
For those of you who haven't seen it, it is ridiculously amazing and heartbreakingly sad. I am generally opposed to movies, songs, and whatnot that exploits September 11th for personal and monetary gain (i.e "United 93," and "World Trade Center"). However, this movie does not do that. It closely examines the literal shell of a man who is trying to cope with (or completely avoid) the haunting fact that his entire family--wife, three daughters, and dog--died in one of the planes that hit Tower 1. Don Cheadle plays Adam Sandler's old college roommate who reconnects with him and tries to bring him back to reality and some semblance of a normal life. Both men were Ah-Mazing.
I cried three times. It is the most emotional and heartbreaking movie I think I have ever seen. Perhaps because of the topic (September 11th) or because of the sad and deteriorated condition of a normally strong man, it was so so sad. I really can't put the emotion into words. Adam Sandler did an amazing job of leaving behind the dumb-ass "Billy Madison" routine and playing a convincing widower.
More than that, his character was so authentic. (I know that the idea of "authenticity" brings all kinds of questions up, but let's just take the idea for face value for a moment or two.) His coping strategies and progress (or regressions) are so realistic and natural. It wasn't overdone or melodramatic; it was real. It would have been so easy to ruin the film with dramatics and overacting. Thankfully they didn't.
So, long story short, go see it.
1 comment:
Oh MB! I so so wish I had gone with you guys, even though I know it will ruin me. I will try to make Dan go this week. Then, we're all having a sit-down discussion about its amazingness.
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