there may be spoiler . charlie fineman ( adam sandler ) and who lose his family in a tragedy and ( the terrorist attack of sept. 11 ) and still grief over their death . he run into his former college roommate and alan johnson ( don cheadle ) and and the two rekindle their friendship . alan vow to help his old friend come to term with the terrible loss . this be a simplification of the basic story of reign over me . this movie be and however and a story of how fate intercedes in our life when we ourselves may be powerless do any thing about our own state of be . alan be stick in a life that he know be no longer fulfil . he feel friendless and out of touch with his own reality . he be unable to communicate with his wife and his associate at work . he can not express his feeling and a a result feel lose and distant from his own world . he chance upon charlie on the street of manhattan while drive from his job . eventually he meet and discovers that charlie and ( who originally do not remember alan ) and be live in a false reality of his own . charlie have go back to a time in his life when he have no family . he live as if he be still a student playing in a rock band and collect vinyl record of the 60 and 70 band and and play video game . he have escape to a good and safe time in his life where there be no bad guy and he have a lot less to lose . everyone in this movie be affect in some way by the tragedy that have affect charlie and his remission to a formerly different and good ( . ) place . his landlady be his protector and great enabler . his in law be subtract from his life because they would take him back to the reality that his family be now go from his life . and alan be most affected by him because alan want to and ( in at first a selfish desire to escape from his own reality ) to be with charlie a a mean to subtract himself from his own stifled reality and then he want to find a way to help charlie begin to recover from his self induce guilt and denial of loss . it be through this relationship that not only be charlie able to begin to heal himself but that alan and in fact and learn to communicate and sate his true desire with his associate at work and and eventually and be able to admit to his wife he have not be able to communicate his real feeling to her but that he strongly want to because he do love her . it be in fact a poignant moment in the film when the stuff have hit the fan and charlie be be confront with the reality of be put away that he and alan be talk about the situation together over chinese that charlie state that he be in fact worry about alan and not himself . this movie will and if you let it and take you through a river of emotion and leave you think . it will have you laugh at how charlie use his word and like people really do in everyday life and to make a comical statement of fact about a real situation . it will leave you on the verge of tear and ( in my case actual tear ) and when charlie confront his grief and begin to come to grip with his tremendous loss . and that in fact the tragic reality be his guilt and loss have really never leave him and he deal with it in the only way he know represent denial . it will make you curse at the cold and unthinking action of a young prosecutor try to win his case and ( a i actually do at charlie hearing . ) and it will make you smile at the commonsense of a old and wise and stern judge and ( donald sutherland who be great at his short distinct role and give the best performance of a wise and stern person in the legal profession since wilford brimley play an assistant attorney general in absence of malice . ) this movie be also amaze to me for a few other reason represent ( 1 ) i never look at my watch once during the showing of the film . which mean it have me from the beginning to the end and ( 2 ) although the cast be interracial and this fact be not important to the play out of the role of the character in the film . race be a non factor to the performance of the role in this movie . amazing people can actually interact with out this fact be bring out . and ( 3 ) the only real reference to 9/11 be when charlie financial attorney refers to the tragedy of charlie loss a what charlie have become on 9/12 . time will be the true test of how this movie will stand out in the future but if the purpose of a movie be not to just entertain but to make one think and have that movie stay with you long after you leave the theatre then reign over me succeed phenomenally as far a i be concern . i have not yet forget this wonderful thought provoking film and i will wait impatiently for the day i can purchase it a a dvd .