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by Willie Waffle

Click

You think you have seen all of the jokes in the trailers and commercials.  You think you know the whole story from how it will start to how it will end. You think Adam Sandler has nothing left in his bag of tricks that can surprise you.  You think you know what you are in for?  You ain’t seen nothing yet.

Sandler stars as Michael – a hardworking, middle class architect trying to work his way up the ladder to partner at his firm.  To get all of those things he desires, from success to money to job satisfaction, Michael works too hard.  In fact, he works so hard, he can’t seem to find the time to take the kids on a great summer vacation or finish the tree house he started building for them.  One night, in a fit of frustration, after trying to get the darn remote control to work the television, Michael heads off to a department store, where he wanders into a strange stock room, and finds Morty (Christopher Walken) – a whacked out, crazy guy who offers him the latest, greatest, most wonderful universal remote control ever made because, “good guys need a break once in a while.”  However, it doesn’t control the TV, it controls the universe.

As Michael learns he can go back to special moments in his life, and fast forward through the parts he doesn’t like, will he use the power for all of the right reasons?  What are the consequences for messing with such power?  Who is this Morty? 

Click sells itself as an Adam Sandler comedy full of immature humor (and it is), but, after it delivers all of that, the movie reaches out to touch your brain and heart with a morality tale about living life and taking time for what is important, before it is too late.  Yes, Sandler can be that deep, and even though he has been pursuing these types of projects over the past few years, people still don’t believe it when they see it.  Shame on them.   

Writers Steve Koren and Mark O’Keefe, along with director Frank Coraci, do a brilliant job of luring in the typical Sandler fans with the jokes you would expect, including farting, slapping other people and dogs who love stuffed animals a little too much (a joke that is funny the first time, grows old the next few times, then, somehow, gets funny again), but slowly transform Click into an emotional, heartbreaking and life affirming film that forces the audience to consider life and the consequences of the choices we make along the way.  It’s a movie full of big moments, especially in the last, brilliant 30 minutes as Coraci and Sandler put the audience in tears with situations all of us fear coming true as we get older and start to recognize the fragility of life and happiness.  However, none of it would have been as powerful without Sandler’s performance. 

In the past few years, Sandler has grown from court jester to leading man much like Tom Hanks did in the late 80’s and early 90’s.  While he still relies on the persona of being a dumb, overgrown child/frat boy (which must be the way he has to sell movies to studio executives who grew up on Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison), Sandler uses Click to show the rest of the world how he is growing into a more complex figure with an ability to fill a character with those feelings and experiences.  We see Sandler take Michael from a goofy guy who fights back against annoying kids by acting more childish than them to frustrated father and husband to an older man who looks back on life (the little of it he has seen) and heartbreakingly reacts to all of his mistakes and missed opportunities (any man who fast forwards through sex with Kate Beckinsale will regret it, FOREVER).  It’s that more sensitive, emotional side of Sandler’s performance that stands out the most in Click and feels more real and believable than some of his potty humor antics.  

Meanwhile, the cast also finds some moments to be amazing.  Sadly, Beckinsale doesn’t get to do more than walk around the house in short shorts and tank top t-shirts (OK, I didn’t mind, but she needs to do more than show off her rockin’ body in tight clothes to further her career), but a trio of guys give Sandler the kind of support the movie needs to be more than a one man show.  

Walken is Walken the way only he can be by creating a character who is equal parts loony and shrewd, always making you wonder which is which from scene to scene.  Unlike many other actors, he has the ability to make you laugh and shudder at will.  Then, David Hasselhoff shows he has found a new career working as a parody of himself much like Leslie Nielsen before him.  He is a perfect pompous, sex crazed boss who walks a fine line between making the audience laugh at him and hate him at all the same time.  Finally, little Cameron Monaghan plays the most annoying next door neighbor since Eddie Haskell with his smart aleck remarks and desire to one-up Michael and his family at every turn.  It might be the funniest performance all year by an actor without a driver’s license. 

 3 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4)

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