Review of Reign Over Me

The dialogues are awful, the characters not likable at all, everything sounds so fake and phony, even feelings, especially sad feelings. And so many explanations... everything gets explained, even after Sandler finally speaks about his dead family to Don Cheadle, he has to explain "I don't like to remember" while Liv Tyler (the most improbable psychiatrist in the whole movie history - possibly worse than J. Lo in "The Cell") stands there gaping. The movie has no rhythm, there is absolutely no building of tension - neither dramatic nor romantic - the situations are all highly improbable. The Saffron Burrows story bears no resemblance to anything remotely possible - gorgeous woman coming from a tragic marriage asks her dentist to please let her give him a blow-job, he refuses, she threatens him with a false accusation of trying to rape her, then repents her behavior, withdraws her threats and then - Lo and behold! - becomes eligible as the next sweetheart of said dentists' loony friend. I read a comment here going "If you are not moved by this, check your pulse". Well, my pulse is working fine, thank you very much, but to feel moved by a story I need to be able to identify at least a little bit with at least ONE of the characters. The whole story looks like the result of reading too many Readers' Digest psychoanalytic articles. The 9/11 issue looks like a base way of captivating the audience's favors - certainly not mine. I only wonder why among Post-Vietnam movies there are so many masterpieces, while post-9/11 movies have yet to produce something decent. What is happening to American movies? Where have all the great directors gone? Awful, from A to Z - and beyond.