7. Adam Sandler Reign Over Me
Adam Sandler has a bad reputation among the cinephile community, and its not hard to see why. I dont think theres been a career path in Hollywood more settled upon languishing in mediocrity than the Happy Gilmore star, who long ago realised that his Happy Madison films were going to make him far more moolah than any foray into the proper acting world, Punch-Drunk Love and Funny People notwithstanding. So to see him actually go for broke in something like Reign Over Me which is most definitely not a comedy was refreshing because it was so rare. If you watch Sandlers dramatic performances, you know hes very capable of pulling off a memorable performance after all, Paul Thomas Anderson doesnt work with fools yet when youre snowed under by execrable pap like Grown Ups, you do tend to forget. So his turn as Dr. Charlie Fineman was remarkable entirely because it was him in the part. Of course, just taking part in stunt-casting doesnt guarantee a good performance, but Sandler here was a revelation, playing a man whod lost absolutely everything in 9/11 with such heart-rending pathos that you wonder why he doesnt try to this more often. Granted, we all know why he tends to stay away from this stuff, but if it could lead to more performances like this then perhaps he should stop thinking about the bottom line so often. After all, theres only so many gold-plated mansions a superstar comedian needs.