10 Times Adam Sandler Proved He Can Act

Adam Sandler starring in a movie about 9/11 must have set off the bad taste alarm bells ringing at Columbia Studios, but in Reign Over Me he gives a performance of real power as a man who lost everything meaningful in his life on that tragic day. Charlie Fineman is a shadow of his former sociable self, haunted by loss, and Sandler jumps at the chance to try something out completely different to anything else in his catalogue.

The film itself is decent enough, a simple tale of friendship, with Don Cheadle’s Alan Johnson tasked with bringing the grief stricken Sandler back from the brink. But the haunting delicacy of Sandler’s performance (as well as fine work from Cheadle) elevate Reign Over Me into something worth watching. Sander takes us to seriously dark places, touching on loss and self destructive urges without ever lurching into his old comedic tricks (which he can be prone to doing even in his most dramatic roles).

The film was a gamble and no mistake, but the casting against type works like a charm. If Reign Over Me itself was just a little better, this would have won Sandler the Oscar.