Reign Over Me

"Let in the unexpected."

2007 2h 4m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

🍅

64%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.4

IMDB

★7.2TMDB · 1,264🍅64%Rotten Tomatoes●61Metacritic★7.4IMDB · 102,444

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A man who lost his family in the September 11 attack on New York City runs into his old college roommate. Rekindling the friendship is the one thing that appears able to help the man recover from his grief.

“Let in the unexpected.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Adam Sandler
Charlie Fineman
Don Cheadle
Alan Johnson
Jada Pinkett Smith
Janeane Johnson
Liv Tyler
Angela Oakhurst
Saffron Burrows
Donna Remar
Donald Sutherland
Richter Raines
Robert Klein
Jonathan Timpleman
Melinda Dillon
Ginger Timpleman

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Mike Binder
Writers: Mike Binder
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 19 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Mike Binder, shot by Russ T. Alsobrook. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Rolfe Kent. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Steve Edwards shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle and Jada Pinkett Smith carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Let in the unexpected.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0490204 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Mike Binder directs. Russ T. Alsobrook behind the camera. Rolfe Kent scores. Steve Edwards cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 19 years ago.
2Directed by Mike Binder, shot by Russ T. Alsobrook. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Rolfe Kent. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Steve Edwards shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle and Jada Pinkett Smith carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Let in the unexpected.".
7IMDB entry: tt0490204 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 11 themes, including "airplane", "loss of loved one", "war on terror", "confidence".

The technical file

Cinematography: Russ T. Alsobrook
Original score: Rolfe Kent
Editing: Steve Edwards
Production design: Christian 'Pipo' Wintter
Costume design: Deborah L. Scott
Makeup / hair: Ann Pala
VFX supervisor: Vincent Cirelli
Sound: Elmo Weber
Runtime: 124 min · 2h 4m
Status: Released
Budget: $20,000,000
Box office: $22,222,308
Return: 111% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Reign Over Me (2007)
Rotten Tomatoes: 64% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 61/100
IMDB rating: 7.4/10 · 102,444 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

3 nominations total

Also by

Mike Binder

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-12-28
★ 6/10
Dentist “Alan” (Don Cheadle) has built up a decent practice, is happily married with two children and he even has the Volvo. Outwardly content, he is finding things are starting to overwhelm him a bit - especially when patient “Angela” (Liv Tyler) asks for some extra veneer on her veneer! Travelling home one afternoon he espies the headphone-wearing “Charlie” (Adam Sandler) who he recalls he shared a flat with years ago at college. What he doesn’t know is that 9/11 impacted very profoundly on his friend and with little to live for, “Charlie” is stuck in a maelstrom of despair that although on an entirely different scale from “Alan”, he needs to talk about too. Suffice to say that this is a bit like getting blood from a stone. “Charlie” has given up on life and on himself, but can his friend help him navigate his grief and his loneliness whilst dealing with a few demons of his own? The last half hour of this do redeem it to an extent, especially when we are left with just Cheadle and Sandler to demonstrate what has become an intensely personal relationship. Sadly, though, I didn’t find enough of that intensity and there were too many distractions to the story to sustain the thrust for me. Perhaps the object was to compare the lesser “inconveniences” of “Alan” with the tragic ones of “Charlie”, but that fell a bit short for me as the personality of “Charlie” wasn't explored anything like deep enough and the attempts at humour fell rather flat. It’s a tough subject to address, dealing with issues of grief and of being a victim and at times it does it potently, just not with enough sustained conviction. Perhaps it’s Sandler setting out to prove he has more than one string to his bow, but I was often unconvinced.
Bud the Lea2026-09-11
★ 8/10
The really striking thing for someone who doesn't live in New York and isn't even American is that you don't initially realize what this film is about, even though you watched 9-11 as it happened on the TV. When I saw this several years ago for the first time, I found it really very moving and the more the film progressed, the more you really began to empathise with the deep trauma that had happened on an individual and a citywide level. I shall watch it again this evening (9/11/2026) and leave an updated part of this review. But I can already rate it at an 8 because it has stayed in my mind since I first watched it.