Enticing concept but terribly inconsistent tone and pace

Rating: 5/10 (23 January 2017)

So, I saw this movie when it came out in 2006. I was 13 years old. I thought the movie was pretty decent back then.
However, as time went on, and I began looking at films from a more critical perspective and yeah, there is a lot to say about this movie.
First of all, this story is anything but original. The man who was seduced by power? Yeah, I'm pretty sure every variation of that story has been done at this point.
Basically, Adam Sandler's character is an overworked architect trying to satisfy both his family and his work colleagues. His boss, David Hasselhoff puts a certain amount of undue pressure on him to get his work done, putting Sandler's family plans to a screeching halt.
Trying to make his life a bit easier, he meets Christopher Walken who is a retail salesman, who gives him a universal remote control that "remote-controls your universe." Sandler tries to accomplish his work goals thanks to the remote but it starts becoming self aware, skipping through chapters of his life quite literally and it suddenly turns all tragic.
This is the main issue with the film: the tone. The first hour of the film is spent establishing the situation of Sandler's character and the humorous occurrences that take place once he receives the remote. Once it is discovered what the negative repercussions of the remote are, the film proceeds to skip ahead a number of years in the last few scenes, where the situation is explained with throwaway lines of expository dialogue, breaking the first rule of filmmaking: SHOW, DON'T TELL!!!! It's also quite jarring that it suddenly shifts in tone from goofy misadventures with a remote control to tragic heartbreak skipping decades of Sandler's life. No natural flow whatsoever and it takes away from the enjoyment of the film.
The concept is intriguing, the only problem is that the material was not used to its full potential.