“Click” begins as a heart-warming, funny tale ? but it quickly develops into the stupidness that envelopes so many Adam Sandler movies before it.
Sandler stars in the film as a workaholic dad trying to come to terms with balancing work and his family in a technological world. He plays Michael Newman in the film, who has a boss he hates (played by David Hasselhoff), and a family with wife Donna (Kate Beckinsale).
After getting told he would not be able to go away with his family for the long weekend in July because he has to finish a project for work, Michael gets frustrated when he tries to turn on the television, only to discover there are too many remotes for him to remember what operates what. He decides to head out in the middle of the night to find a universal remote.
And he does, from a man named Morty (Christopher Walken) at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Morty tells Michael he can have this new universal remote that is not on the market yet, but warns it cannot be returned.
Michael heads home and by the end of the night realizes this new remote does more than just operate the television. He soon discovers he can mute, fast forward, change language settings and revisit his past with just the click of a button.
Soon Michael is fast forwarding through fights with his wife and traffic on his way to work. He also uses the pause button to beat up his boss. But soon the remote takes on a life of its own and fast forwards through almost all of Michael’s life.
The movie starts off promising, even if Beckinsale looks a little too gorgeous to be a mother of two young children (try to name me a mother you know who goes to bed in a tank top that shows of her midriff and short shorts). It seems like it is going to be more of a heart-warming comedy like “The Wedding Singer,” than a movie just in it for stupid laughs (”Happy Gilmore” anyone?).
But it seems the remote Michael receives does more than even he believes, because the film soon turns into a film filled with fart jokes that teenage boys will love, but others will not.
It’s disappointing that the movie takes this turn because by the end when Morty?s true identity is revealed, the audience doesn’t seem to care anymore. And while the film has a typical Hollywood ending, it would have been nicer if it had ended a little darker, much like “The Break Up” did. Especially since it had the ability to do so had the film ended about 15 minutes earlier.
Sandler does a good job in the film, but often turns into a caricature of himself which takes the audience away from the fantasy of the film. Beckinsale performs well as a frustrated wife and mother, and the two kids who play the couple’s kids at the beginning of the film, steal the scenes they’re in.
Walken is excellent as always, however sometimes you can get a hint that the actor found some of the humour just plain stupid.
If you feel like seeing a movie that has a little heart, “Click” is for you. However, if you feel like something with a lot of heart that doesn’t fade away, click on over to “The Break Up.”
