i am not crazy when i said i like adam sandler. i do. even though it is far and between that he does quality flicks, preferring instead to stick to what he does best - the adam sandler genre. which is funny too if you like slapstick and dirty jokes - i like 'em. thank goodness that sandler has the sense of doing something else other than what he usually does - and reign over me is a very good exception.
don cheadle is a dentist, married with kids and thinks his wife is not giving him space for him to do "man things". may be it is the seven year itch, but he's restless, bored with his ordered life, and looking for a way to let out some steam. he then came across his long lost roommate (adam sandler) from college who initially didn't remember him. sandler is disheveled, constantly renovating his kitchen, always on his music head space listening to rock greats. he spent his nights going around the city on his scooter (i don't know what the thing is called) and i suspect he doesn't sleep much. he didn't seem to remember anything much from his past. at first cheadle didn't mind sandler playing an amnesiac, until he found out the reasons for sandler's insistent pretension to forget.
sandler's playing the down and out guy who suffers so much that he disconnects from the world is endearing. i am sad for him. if you noticed, he always has this inner desperation going, like he's repressing something and ended up doing something else that is the opposite of what he feels. cheadle is great (played with great ease), the nice everyday man looking for a little excitement at the expense of forgetting the good things he has in his life, which is often taken for granted. by the end of the movie, he realized that he doesn't want to be sandler nor his apparent freedom if that means he can't let anyone into his life. the movie is touching at so many levels, it doesn't get too dark and the ironies of everyday life provide a much needed comic relief which is not silly at all, but true. that is the kind of surprise that i like when i watch a film, given adam sandler is in the movie.
i especially like the cinematography that shows the beautiful new york city, the city and its people after sept 11 bustling like nothing happened, covering deep scars if only time could heal them.
I love Adam Sandler! He never made pretensions of being anything he isn't, but if you examine his stories, there is another layer to them, undercurrents that are often unsaid. He crafts his stories with skill, oftentimes not playing nice but with a verve and honesty that can be unnerving.
ReplyDeleteThere is a place for juvenile humour and he does it well.
Here's to toilet jokes!