A perennial court jester, Sandler can’t quite carry drama of ‘Reign’

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In theaters

REIGN OVER ME, written and directed by Mike Binder, 122 minutes, rated R.

The new Mike Binder drama, “Reign Over Me,” stars Adam Sandler as Charlie Fineman, a former dentist who lost his wife, his three daughters and the family dog in one of the planes that crashed on Sept. 11 and who now exists in a haze of denial, not unlike the actor himself.

Over the course of his 18-year film career, Sandler has played a wealth of characters, not one of which has come close to preparing him for a role that demands, above all else, the ability to tap into an unimaginable vein of rage and grief.

His vitae is hardly a virtue. He has been Schecky Moskowitz in “Babes Ahoy,” a dimwitted waterboy in “The Waterboy,” the lisping spawn of Satan in “Little Nicky.” Fond of the uncredited performance, Sandler has popped up as Satan in “Dirty Work,” Mambuza Bongo Guy in “The Hot Chick,” and Javier Sandooski in “Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo.” He’s popular with the masses and he has made millions doing his shtick, but is he really our go-to guy for a movie that uses the events of Sept. 11 as its emotional backdrop? That feels about as right as a weekend call from the doctor’s office, but according to Binder, Sandler is exactly the right guy.

Maybe this is because Binder knows that some of our best comedians also are our best dramatists. Trouble is, Sandler isn’t that actor. In 2002’s “Punch Drunk Love,” he went for respect and earned it in his best, most credible performance to date. But in his second stab at drama, 2004’s “Spanglish,” he was derailed by a shrieking, steamrolling Tea Leoni and failed to leave a mark.

Now, as Charlie, he is fittingly cast as a man who has regressed into something of a child – he rides a motorized scooter through the streets of Manhattan, he’s addicted to video games, his infrequent stabs at humor seem culled from the playground. But Sandler, decked out in a distracting Bob Dylan fright wig, can’t overcome his own limitations as an actor. The idea that he’s paired opposite Don Cheadle as fellow dentist and former roommate Alan Johnson is no help. Cheadle’s gifts as an actor, which are on full display here, consistently underscore Sandler’s weaknesses.

In a movie that finds Alan reconnecting with Charlie after many years apart, the story stumbles forward, with Alan so disturbed by the depth of Charlie’s shattered state, he makes it his duty to get his old friend the help he needs. On one level, this means earning Charlie’s trust; on another, it means getting him to a psychiatrist, in this case Liv Tyler’s Dr. Angela Oakhurst.

Detracting him from his quest to save Charlie are Charlie himself, who rails against remembering what he wants to forget; Alan’s controlling wife, Janeane (Jada Pinkett Smith), who would prefer that her husband spend more time at home; and Charlie’s in-laws (Robert Klein, Melinda Dillon), who want him institutionalized. It’s a plot designed to allow actors the opportunity to act, and while Cheadle comes through, the out-of-his-league Sandler, crushed by the weight of the material, never stands a chance.

Grade: C-

On DVD and Blu-ray disc

VOLVER, written and directed by Pedro Almodovar, 120 minutes, rated R.

Pedro Almodovar’s “Volver” stars Penelope Cruz in an Academy Award-nominated, comeback performance that’s so good, it recalls the film’s title itself. In Spanish, “volver” means “to return,” and that’s exactly what Cruz has done here. She’s fantastic.

The movie reminds you what all the hype was about when Cruz first hit the scene in the States in Fina Torres’ 2000 film, “Woman on Top.” She was like a young Sophia Loren or Anna Magnani softened with the vulnerability of an Audrey Hepburn. When the movie became an underground hit, the Hollywood machine cheapened her appeal in such films as “Vanilla Sky,” “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” and “Sahara.” Later, when she became Tom Cruise’s real-life love interest, there was the sense that that was it. We likely had lost her to Xenu on a DC-8 of no return.

But not so. Cruz is one of the key reasons to see “Volver,” a comic melodrama with broad echoes of “Mildred Pierce” that gathers together a tight network of strong women – a staple in Almodovar’s work – and becomes increasingly serious as the movie unfolds.

In the film, Cruz’s Raimunda is first seen scrubbing graves with her daughter, Paula (Yohana Cobo), sister Sole (Lola Duenas), and dozens of other women at a La Mancha cemetery before the death that surrounds them literally blows to the forefront of the movie.

Raimunda’s elderly aunt (Chus Lampreave) is failing physically while at home, Raimunda’s deadbeat husband, Paco (Antonio de la Torre), makes the mistake of trying to rape his own daughter. This leads to his bloody murder at the hands of Paula, with Raimunda, who is nothing if not resourceful, stepping in to dispose of the body while the plot thickens with the return of her mother, Irene (Carmen Maura), who died in a fire years before.

What’s going on here? We’ll leave that for Almodovar to explain, which he does with typical flourish and aplomb, but also with unusual reservoirs of restraint. It’s a balance the director strikes throughout, and while that makes for a movie that’s less showy than, say, Almodovar’s “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” it also reveals the maturity of an artist working near the peak of his craft.

As for Cruz, returning to Spain and to her native language has left her transformed. No longer does she seem uncomfortable onscreen. Instead, with these words, this story, that talent and that body, she’s unleashed. This is her third film with Almodovar – her first was 1997’s “Live Flesh,” her breakout was 1999’s “All About My Mother,” in which she played a pregnant nun infected with HIV – and she reaches deep here to mine a fiery, complex character that’s her most compelling to date.

Grade: A

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays and Fridays in Lifestyle, weekends in Television as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Akeelah and the Bee – B+

The Ant Bully – B+

Babel – A-

Basic Instinct 2 – D+

The Black Dahlia – C-

Blood Diamond – C+

Borat – B+

Cars – C

Casino Royale – A

Charlotte’s Web – B+

Cheaper by the Dozen 2 – C-

Children of Men – A

Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – A

Clerks II – B+

Crank – B+

Date Movie – D-

The Da Vinci Code – C+

The Departed – A

The Descent – B+

The Devil Wears Prada – B+

Employee of the Month – C

Entourage: Season Three, Part 1 – A-

Eragon – C

Failure to Launch – C-

Fast Food Nation – B-

Flushed Away – B+

Flyboys – C-

Freedomland – C-

Friends with Money – B

Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties – C+

G.I. Jane Blu-ray – B

The Gridiron Gang – C+

The Grudge 2 – D-

Half Nelson – A-

Happy Feet – A-

A History of Violence – A

The Holiday – C+

Hollywoodland – C

The Illusionist – B+

Infamous – B+

Inside Man – B+

Invincible – B

Jackass Number Two – B

The Judi Dench Collection – A-

Junebug – A

Kinky Boots – B+

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – B+

Last Holiday – B

The Libertine – D

Little Miss Sunshine – B+

Lucky Number Slevin – B

The Marine – C+

Match Point – A

Me, Myself & Irene Blu-ray – C+

Miami Vice – C

Miami Vice: Seasons Three and Four – C

Monster House – B+

Munich – A-

My Super Ex-Girlfriend – A-

North Country – C

The Omen – B-

Open Season – B

Over the Hedge – B

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – B-

Poseidon – B

A Prairie Home Companion – C

The Prestige – B+

The Pursuit of Happyness – B-

Rocky Balboa – B+

Running with Scissors – C+

Shakespeare Behind Bars – A-

Sherrybaby – B+

Shut Up & Sing – A-

Slither – B

Snakes On A Plane: A-

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby – B

This Film is Not Yet Rated – B-

United 93 – A

Volver – A

The Wicker Man – BOMB

World Trade Center – A

X-Men: The Last Stand – B-