Enjoyable formula flick for Sandler quickly becomes tedious

Rating: 5/10 (15 November 2006)

Wouldn't it be great if you had a universal remote that you could use to pause, rewind and fast forward your life as you see fit? Skip past all the boring stuff, pause and rewind all the fun stuff. It would be a blast right? Then again, it does kind of sound like the typical "be careful what you wish for?" Hollywood movie.
Adam Sandler plays Michael Newman. He is your typical "Hollywood" middle class, white collar husband and father. Impossibly cute kids, impossibly gorgeous wife, seemingly great job as an architect... not many problems to be found on the surface. Of course, as the story unfolds it becomes obvious that our protagonist needs more time in each day to play the roles of father, husband and successful business man. Through some goofy circumstances Sandler bumps into mad-scientist Morty (played for a paycheck by Christopher Walken) and obtains the "universal remote". This remote seemingly answers all of Michael's problems. It gives him all the time he needs to become a bigshot at the office, after which he'll have all the time he wants to spend with his family. Of course, comic and dramatic hijinks ensue, eventually leading Sandler's character to realize what the true meaning of life is all about.
Click is highly formulaic and as such, highly predictable. If you don't see every major plot point coming way before it's delivered, then either you weren't paying much attention or you haven't seen that many movies. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with formulaic and nothing wrong with predictable. Movies succeed or fail far more on execution than originality. Hollywood rarely reinvents the wheel, it just churns out different variations. The only real problem with Click is that it gets lost in it's own message and is eventually drowned by the weight of it's dramatic second half.
Everything starts out great. The comedy is delivered at a pretty consistent pace without ever diving too far into low-brow areas that Sandler's early movies were known for. There are some great supporting performances from Nick Swardson, Jennifer Coolidge, Henry Winkler and especially David Hasselhoff. This is easily the best performance I ever recall seeing from ol' Dave. He comes so close to going over the top without ever getting there and steals just about every scene he's in. The plot is enjoyable and the characters are funny, but you just know the other foot is going to fall. Things just can't keep going smooth for Michael.
Once things turn south for our protagonist, so does the move itself. Michael realizes that the remote is not the silver bullet fix he thought it was and the script does everything it can to make sure we understand that. We end up with a plodding second act that meanders and quickly loses steam. Sandler is allowed to stretch some dramatic muscles and does an admirable job, it's just unfortunate that he is allowed to indulge. The plot is lost with far more views into the future than need be. Eventually the point of the story is beaten into the ground and everything devolves into little more than Rick Baker's makeup effects. By the time the inevitable "Tug at the heartstrings" moment arrives, it's impact is dulled by the ponderous journey it took to get there.
Overall, I admire Click for what it tried to accomplish. Sandler is really a better talent then he's ever been given credit for and his performance here is really solid. The problem is that Click should have left some of the second act on the cutting room floor instead of going out of it's way to play up Sandler's dramatic side. What could have been a truly enjoyable 90 minutes clocked in at a somewhat lumbering 107.
Click won't make you want to change the channel, but it probably won't make you rewind and watch again either.
5/10