I Have No Idea What I Just Watched, But I Liked It

Rating: 9/10 (22 April 2014)

This movie isn't sure what it wants to be. There are too many comedic moments for it to be a drama but the drama occupies the second half of the movie, so it can't be a comedy.
Whatever this movie is, I'm glad I watched it. All the trailers painted this movie as a big "What If" scenario played up for laughs, so I didn't see it when it first came out. It looked a little too stupid and nonsensical. But, there comes a time when your so bored, and no one is around to witness it, that you will give the stupid and nonsensical a try.
So I walked in, I saw all the bits from the trailers, and then the movie suddenly became "It's A Wonderful Life", only protagonist Michael Newman (it's Adam Sandler; like, the same Adam Sandler we got with every early 2000s Happy Madison movie) is stuck in this brave new world that he sacrificed his entire life for with no hope of ever turning it back.
My one complaint about the movie is that the ending is a bit of a cop-out, but they patch it up pretty well thanks to a few heartfelt words from Christopher Walken.
Suffice to say, I was pretty surprised when this movie went from being an okay Adam Sandler comedy to a tearful message not to let your life go by; to live in every moment of it; that it's an expression of joy, and that if you take it seriously, you're gonna lose. It's funny, it's well written, it's well paced, it's well acted, it's just a great movie.