Movie Notes: Click

September 18th, 2007

Click

starstar = 2 stars

Starring Adam Sandler, Christopher Walken, Kate Beckinsale
Directed by Frank Coraci

I’m not an Adam Sandler fan, but do find some of his movies entertaining (50 First Dates, The Wedding Singer). Click, however, I didn’t care for. Sandler plays suburban everyman Michael Newman who’s given a magic remote that can control reality. I have a remote control for my DVD player, and I probably should taken a cue from the film and watched Click at 2x speed and with mute on. That would have saved an hour - and the film would have been just as understandable.

Click has a calculated, average-joe summer blockbuster feel. It sports several stars: Adam Sandler, Christopher Walken, David Hasselhof, and Kate Beckinsale, each guaranteed to attract a particular family demographic. The setting is suburbia: Michael (Adam Sandler) is a hard-working architect, married to illogically beautiful Donna (Kate Beckinsale), has two kids, and a dog. Adam has a typical, middle-class conflict between work and family - his cheesy boss Ammer (David Hasselhoff) forces him to cancel a camping trip in favor of work over a Fourth of July weekend. Frustrated, Sandler’s inability to figure out the multiple remote controls in his modest living room, drives him to rush out and purchase a universal remote. He drives by Best Buy and other big box stores and ends up at… Bed Bath and Beyond.

It’s at this point, not even a third through the film, that I found myself losing interest. Nutty professor Morty (Christopher Walken) appears in the “Beyond” part of the store and gives Adam the magical remote. Initially, it’s basically an excuse for some cornball visual effects. Michael uses pause to make Donna stop nagging, then fast forward to get the dog to take a poop faster, and implements mute to shut up an annoying driver (Terry Crews in a brief cameo, and the only point at which I laughed out loud). Other implementations of the remote come from the mind of an eleven-year-old boy.

At first Michael is overjoyed with his new found powers, but as in other similar films (Bruce Almighty) everything starts going to heck. At about the halfway point, it morphs into a sad remake of It’s A Wonderful Life. But the biggest problem with this tactic is while George Bailey was generous to a fault, Adam Sandler’s character is basically a completely selfish asshole.

Click seems to be a cautionary tale of crass materialism and an over-reliance on technology. But the ultimate oddity is how it ultimately shows the vapidity of the exact people to whom this film was marketed to - workaholic, mainstream, suburban America that are big fans of Adam Sandler movies. But the first part of the film isn’t satirical enough to make this clear. I didn’t know if I was supposed to identify with these brain-dead characters or laugh at them. Ultimately I found myself reaching for my own remote control. Click.

IMDB: Click
Wikipedia: Click
Rotten Tomatoes: Click 32%

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  • I agree with your take here. When I saw it, I wasn't all that impressed either. If I had a time stopper, I would have used it much better than Adam Sandler did.
  • Yep, another movie I didn't make it all the way through. I think I got about 30 minutes into this one before I turned it off and returned it (and by returned it I really mean deleted it from my hard drive).
  • Haha, I'm in the same boat.

    I watch most of my movies on the computer. If i'm interested I'm in "fullscreen" mode throughout. If I lose interest however, I shrink the screen down to a little 300px wide window that I keep open at the side of the monitor while I surf around or do work.

    I pretty much switched to the 300px window early on in the film and had no idea what happened by the time the credits rolled.

    I did look up whenever Kate Beckinsale was onscreen since she's pretty damned hot :-P
  • I find it somewhat comforting that I'm not alone in not liking this film. Unfortunately I felt obligated to watch and comprehend most of it so I could at least bang out this post. I suppose this is a community service for anyone else thinking about renting this one.
  • All I can say it is similar concept to Ghost Rider --- woken up enough today to come back with comment. Tis not that bad a film if you are a kid!

    Sue
  • Yeah, I would agree with that. If I were a twelve year old boy I'd probably find the part where Adam Sandler freeze frames his boss and punches him really hilarious :)
  • Wow... While I can understand and relate to your comments, I really enjoyed the movie. The message rang true with me and my life, as I continue to live mostly through computers and technology and awaiting that next big phase in my life. The part where Adam Sandler's character is a very old man, basically on his death bed, and he realizes how much he screwed up, it is very touching.

    I agree though that his character was a jerk, and kinda deserved all the bad side effects of the remote.
  • Well, to each their own. But it's cool to have comments so we can read different opinions - I don't claim to be the be all end all of movie critics. Thanks for visiting and commenting!
  • Agreed Jase and my two boys (8 and 12 yrs) watched Click over & over & over all last weekend! Personally I still think his best work was the Wedding Singer and Nicholas Cage better ROFL.

    Sue
  • Click was a really nice movie it gave me touch of Brucce Almighty. and believe me you'll never wish for a life controlling remote control after watching this. really made me sad at the end when he turns old =(
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