It didn't Click for me

Rating: 4/10 (7 September 2006)

Let me get this out of the way first: I am NOT an Adam Sandler fan. I think his films are yawn worthy and often crass, though I did love The Wedding Singer and Punch Drunk Love. This film is no different. It takes a concept that is very entertaining and doesn't go anywhere with it. I felt that the concept was entirely misused. This could have made for a great drama but decided to go in the direction of humor, which itself took a misstep when it decided to delve into the realm of slapstick-y buizzle and going further down the realm of stupidity when it started making fun of the Islamic people, which I found borderline offensive. The film for those who don't know is about a family man, played by Sandler, who gets a remote that can control the world around him. He can pause, fast-forward, rewind, slow down, and listen to audio commentary on his life (from none other then James Earl Jones. I do have to hand it to 'em...that was funny). He starts abusing the power of the remote fast forwarding just in order to get to the next stage of his life. The film picked up leaps and bounds when the remote gets stuck on fast forward skipping through all the important points in his life. It was real moving when he learns of his father's death, played excellently by Henry Winkler. I did get a little misty-eyed during that. The film worked when it went for the drama. Adam Sandler is a very good dramatic actor. Just see Punch Drunk Love or Spanglish or even 50 First Dates. Here, too, it is his strong point. When the remote skips through his son's wedding I was moved. When it skips to his death I must admit I let a tear fall. But the unfortunate truth about the film is it spends far too much time with the comedy, which isn't that funny, and takes too long to get to the moral. I give the film ** out of four because they had the idea, and a good enough cast, they just missed the point.