In fact, not only does it not suck, but it is really good. Probably the best movie I've seen in the theater since Schindler's List.
My special lady and I went to see Reign over Me last night. I was a little bit wary at first-- Hollywood's track record with making 9/11 films isn't exactly strong, and I think that's a shame-- but left feeling satisfied with the movie, and, more importantly, feeling like I'd just seen something important.
For those who don't know, it's a movie about a 9/11 widower, played by Adam Sandler, who is broken and miserable and generally goofy looking. He runs into his old college roommate (Don Cheadle), who has a nice life going on, but isn't fulfilled or happy with the work he does (he's a dentist). Sandler's character-- who was once also a successful dentist, before his wife and children boarded one of the hijacked planes from Boston-- has serious gaps in his memory and is very socially stunted, but charming in a childish way. Cheadle spends the movie trying to get Sandler help, to make him see a psychiatrist and come to terms with the terrible loss.
Like I said, I was wary. I saw the way they'd dressed Sandler's character, and worrried that he'd be an over-the-top, clownish caricature of sadness, but that wasn't the case at all. He was occassionally funny, but mostly was desperately heart-broken and lost, in a constant state of retreat from real life. He was real, nuanced, complex. Sometimes he was likable, sometimes he was overbearing, sometimes pitiful, and sometimes violent.
I worried that Cheadle's character would just be the heroic savior, the Mother Teresa character who would find Charlie and pull him from the depths for purely noble reasons, so that we could end the movie with both men standing proudly at the opening of their new dental practice. Thankfully, this was not the case either, as Cheadle (who, as usual, is really good) plays a man who is largely good, but occassionally selfish, and certainly neglectful of his own wife. The film even makes a point of criticizing the savior mentality that he has.
But more than anything, the movie doesn't offer easy answers. 9/11 films so far have been jingoistic garbage, where they should have handed out miniature American flags to every viewer as they walked in, so we could pat ourselves on the back afterward about how strong we are. To an extent, I understand the need for such films-- art is about healing, and we've been healing as a nation. But there comes a time when our artists are required to create something more from these awful moments, when they really need to explore the human side of things, rather than churning out generic, manipulative, exploitative crap whose only message is "USA! USA!"
If artists, especially writers, are supposed to function as the conscience of a society, then they need to offer us nuanced, intelligent views of these kinds of situations, and this movie does it. The characters are real, nuanced, believable humans, whose motivations are clear and complex, and whose fears are understandable and heartbreaking. The writing is sharp and every scene seems to matter. The acting is superb. And, in the end, things are still a bit murky.
I understand the desire for an ending where everything is wrapped up in a nice little package, but this isn't the movie for that. 9/11 isn't over. It can't be fixed just by going to a psychiatrist a couple times and crying about it. That kind of loss can't be overcome just by having a couple beers. If it can even be overcome, it takes a long, long time. And this movie actually understands that. It doesn't take shortcuts, it doesn't turn people into cartoons, messages, straw men, or political agendas.
In fact, it barely even mentions the 9/11 thing; 9/11 is just there, as it has been omnipresent in our lives since then. They don't want it to be pigeon-holed as that 9/11 movie (I saw Cheadle on The Daily Show the other day, insisting that that's not what this film is) which might be the best sign that it is, so far, the 9/11 movie. 9/11 may be the catalyst for the action in this film, but everything in there is about real, lost people, trying to find their way back, but realizing how difficult that is.
This movie, for me, is an important turning point, because, until now, no artists with so great an audience have been able to (through fear, or paralysis, or laziness, or whatever) present a 9/11 story that seeks to challenge the audience with complex questions, rather than just providing simplistic answers to those questions.
Go see it. It's a smart, big-budget film where Adam Sandler doesn't act like a clown, so I'm afraid it won't last very long.
Actress Thora Birch's parents starred in Deep Throat. I guess that explains alot, but not this creepiness. 
