python unicode file read

def UnicodeReadFile(fileName):
    if os.path.exists(fileName) == False:
        #print fileName + ": Not exist"
        return ";"
    CODEC = 'utf-8'
    FILE = 'unicode.txt'
    emails = ""
    file_object = codecs.open(fileName, 'r', "utf-16")
    for line in file_object:
        try:
            bytes_out = line.encode(CODEC)
        except:
            continue
        #print bytes_out
        bytes_out = bytes_out.strip('\r\n')
        mat = emailPattern.match(bytes_out)
        if mat:
            #print "match unicode"
            email = mat.group(1)
            emails = emails + " " + email
    file_object.close()
    return emails + ";"