Click (2006)

Smith’s Verdict: ***

Reviewed by Tanner Smith

There are “movies starring Adam Sandler” (“Punch-Drunk Love,” “Spanglish,” “Funny People,” “Reign Over Me”) and then there are “Adam Sandler movies” (movies produced by Sandler and starring him to put him up front in attempts to maintain his popularity—“The Waterboy,” “Big Daddy,” “Grown Ups,” “I Now Pronounce Chuck & Larry,” and many more). Sandler can act really well (his terrific performance in “Spanglish,” in particular, breaks my heart), and he can also be very funny…even though a majority of those “Adam Sandler movies” don’t do good jobs of showing his comedic talents. Thankfully, there are exceptions—I like “Happy Gilmore,” “50 First Dates,” “The Wedding Singer,” and the subject of this review, “Click.”

Of the section of “Adam Sandler movies” I find enjoyable, “Click” is probably my favorite. It has its typical “Sandler-esque” crude humor, but it has a bigger heart to it and an unexpected level of pathos that surprisingly make the movie more than what it could’ve been. There are laughs, but there is also a lot of drama as well—drama of the “It’s a Wonderful Life” class.

Sandler plays Michael Newman, an architect who works so hard to get a promotion in his firm that he barely has time to spend with his wife (Kate Beckinsale) and two kids. He misses his son’s swim meet, he has to cancel the annual summer camping trip, and he can’t enjoy have a family dinner without his arrogant jerk of a boss (David Hasselhoff) calling him constantly. Adding onto the agitation is his inability to turn on the TV without turning on the ceiling fan or opening the garage, and so he sets out late at night to buy a universal remote control. The only place open is “Bed, Bath & Beyond.” In the “Beyond” section is where the mysterious Morty (Christopher Walken) works. Morty takes Michael to the “Way Beyond” section and brings him the universal remote to end all universal remotes…

It turns out this remote controls everything in Michael’s universe. He pushes the pause button, and everything pauses around him. He clicks rewind, and he can revisit favorite memories. He can even fast-forward through parts of his life he’d rather skip, like arguments with his wife, slow traffic, and sad moments when his kids are let down. This leads to many funny moments such as he plays with the color setting on himself, making him appear yellow (pirate), then green (Hulk), then purple (Barney), until he finally gets a good tan (Julio Iglesias). And it also has its inventive moments too, such as when Michael explores features from his “Main Menu,” such as his “making-of” and a moment with commentary by James Earl Jones.

But Michael learns that the remote is no toy, as it seems to learn his fast-forwarding patterns and is skipping through larger portions of his life. This is where the dramatic aspects come in. Michael learns the hard way that he needs to put more focus on what he has rather than what he doesn’t have, because his life will just go by quickly otherwise. It’s hard to believe this is in the same film that also features crude jokes with side characters including Michael’s wife’s friend (Jennifer Coolidge, really annoying) and some grossout humor including a long fart joke. While the comedic aspects in the first half of the movie are broad, they’re toned down as the situation involving this dangerous remote becomes more serious. And it works because Michael is a relatable guy and his plight is recognizable—he wants everything to go well, but his priorities are out of place. We feel bad for him when he loses so many precious times (and even loved ones) and is in danger of losing even more. And it’s because Sandler is so good at playing the “everyman” that we want things to go well for the character.

“Click” is a bit uneven, but for what it set out to do, it works. Sometimes it’s funny, other times it’s touching, and overall, it has a good point to make: don’t fast-forward through the most important parts of your life, figuratively. There’s more I can find here than I could in many other “Adam Sandler movies,” so I use “Click” as a prime example of what they could be.