Elsewhere in this section someone mentioned that Chuck & Larry might be the film that gets them taking Adam Sandler more seriously. Well - if it ain't that one, this is definitely the one!
Little he's done previously onscreen prepares you for his excellent portrayal of Charlie Fineman [names are rarely arbitrary], a man troubled by inconsolable grief so profound it has robbed him completely of who he once was.
Someone who knew that former self is his roomie at dental college, Alan Johnson [played with honesty and grace by Don Cheadle] After losing contact with Fineman for years - suddenly Johnson catches a glimpse of him surfing the NYC streets on a personal transport powered scooter [i.e. not cheap]. But Fineman's ever-present headphones render him deaf to Johnson's calls.
When they finally do meet up soon afterward, Johnson's told his wife [and us] about the guy who lost his family. Fineman doesn't seem to remember him, nor does he want to talk about anything in the past. But the two men, for their different reasons, are hungry for friendship - the regular guy kind, playing vid games, sharing meals, seeing movies - but not doing any emotional cleansing.
That there's some of the latter is essential, though, if both men are to move on - not move on out of their lives, but move on into them.
It's not a perfect film - there are some story twists that don't really add much - nor is it one of great original insight -- writer/director Mike Binder also wrote the script for Coupe de Ville -- but it's well observed.
The real reasons, though, to see it - which I recommend you do - are the performances of both Cheadle and Sandler. We know Cheadle can effectively handle drama and comedy and his portrait of the conflicted Johnson [yes, it's a pun] is subtly done.
It's Sandler, though, who surprises. Looking remarkably like a young Bob Dylan, he avoids the maudlin pitfalls of such a disturbed character. His emotional outbursts - never the stuff of those OTT characters he's played before - are motivated and controlled and fully justified by what we keep learning about him. There's a particular scene of his revelations to Cheadle which really kicks Sandler into another plane - the one traveled by good actors.
Speaking of whom - Donald Sutherland's judge near the film's conclusion is a cameo masterpiece of authority and humanity.
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Demisemicenturian
Posted - 09/26/2007 : 11:35:34 I'd somehow forgotten all about this when we were talking about Sandler in the other thread. It is indeed a very impressive performance - and he does look identical to Bob Dylan!
