Charlie hurts. He lost his family in a plane that hit the World Trade Centre in 2001, and has shut down. Emotionally, he inhabits a time that pain forgot, behaving more like a troubled college kid than an adult. Across town, Alan is a successful dentist who lives in a world without air. His marriage is in a down-cycle and the frustrated family-man is fighting to stay involved. When these former room-mates meet by chance, they resume an unlikely friendship – Charlie opens up for the first time in years while Alan, hoping for some college-boy freedom of his own, seizes an opportunity to stretch.

Cheadle, always an actor to watch, is especially compelling and a natural foil for the Paddy Considine-channelling Sandler and his hefty ‘I’m A Serious Actor’ delivery. The pair have an on-screen ease that completes their characters and brings an acute sense of normalcy to what is quite often the exact opposite. September 11 was a catalyst, but this story is more concerned with fundamental qualities, notably caring and how small actions can make a big difference. Reign Over Me is not nearly as successful as Binder’s The Upside Of Anger. It doesn’t have that film’s deft touch nor the spectacular one-two ending that made it so memorable. Yet this exploration of human need remains appealing for all its irritations.

Binder’s directorial immediacy suggests a measure of improvisation which adds several layers to the film’s realism (he also wrote the script). This is a touching story peppered with some frighteningly tense moments generated by a riveting central performance. Although he looses his grip in the third act and lurches unforgivably under the weight of too many ideas, Reign Over Me is still an effective, and affecting film.

// COLIN FRASER