Remote Control
Click Casts Adam Sandler In More Thought-Provoking Role

Love him or hate him, we all know Adam Sandler. When you think of Adam Sandler you remember that time in Happy Gilmore when he beat the tar out of Bob Barker. When you think of Adam Sandler you remember Billy Madison and have a private chuckle at the thought of him speaking gibberish.

So, knowing Adam Sandler, I was expecting many things from Click, but thought-provoking was not one of them.

“So I said to the salesman at Staples, ‘I want two of your finest paper weights and money is no object.’” David Hasselhoff stars in the new comedy Click.

Click is the story of Michael Newman (Sandler), a workaholic who just wishes that life could be as simple as pushing a button. When his boss presents him with the possibility of a promotion, the pressure is on and Michael finds himself unable to balance time between his family and his job as an architect.

Finally frustrated by the complexity of his life (and his inability to turn on his television) Michael runs to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to find a “universal remote.” There, he finds Christopher Walken’s comb-deprived character, Morty, hiding past the Bed and the Bath, in the Beyond. Morty listens to Michael’s problem with an understanding smile and a simple solution: a remote control that not only controls Michael’s TV, but his entire life. Michael discovers that he can manipulate time and space with the mere click of the remote. Reveling in his newfound power, Michael avoids lovers’ spats and listens to commentaries by James Earl Jones.

Michael, impatient for success, decides to fast-forward to the date of his promotion. Afterwards, however, he realizes that he has underestimated the time it took to get there and the remote has programmed itself to fast-forward past anything that Michael has fast-forwarded before (time with his parents, arguments with his wife, illness – even sex!).

Suddenly, everything in Michael’s life is upside down and he realizes that his priorities should start with his loved ones.

While the idea may sound dull or overdone, Adam Sandler adds just the right kind of immaturity to make it interesting. Sandler’s typical humor comes through in fart jokes and references to his other movies (O’Doyle still rules).

The story is one many can relate to: balancing time between family and financial responsibility is a difficulty. We all expected a little drama and, no, I was not crying during Michael’s last scene with his father; I had something in my eye.

The ending was predictable, but tastefully done nonetheless. It was a lesson that we could all learn from, and that is what today’s audience looks for.

Sandler’s performance was slightly stale, but the expectations weren’t very high to begin with. Let’s face it, he’s not exactly cream of the crop unless the role calls for good falsetto.

Donna Newman, played by Kate Beckinsale, was a bit too dramatic for an Adam Sandler movie, but she was passable.

Christopher Walken steals his scenes as eccentric Morty, but who didn’t see that coming?
Click was far from perfect; Michael’s son (played by Jake Hoffman) had occasional emotional outbursts that sounded more like an angry donkey than a devastated 30 year old and the duck scenes made me all the more supportive of spaying and neutering.

The Asian family that existed for 4 minutes of film didn’t make much sense; maybe they were making up for the blissfully short appearance of Rob Schneider?

Director Frank Coraci shouldn’t be expecting any awards, but he has earned my respect. Click was a roller coaster of emotions that ranged from hilarity to sorrow to pensive back to hilarity, and – coming from Adam Sandler – this was a huge surprise.

If Hollywood ever created a yearbook, and that yearbook had superlatives, and those superlatives had a category for “Most Changed,” I would cast my vote for Adam Sandler. Whether or not it was a change for the better is simply a matter of opinion.