From boob and fart gags to depression, regret and death.

Rating: 7/10 (16 June 2018)

Adam Sandler vehicle Click starts off as a goofball fantasy comedy that isn't all that funny, then turns into a surprisingly bleak but eventually heartwarming parable about not wasting your life, although for a while there I could have sworn that I was watching something else entirely: a movie about depression.
Sandler's character, Michael Newman, a workaholic architect who cannot find the time to spend with his family, is obviously suffering from severe stress and appears to have a mental breakdown. It's at this point that the enigmatic Morty (Christopher Walken) offers him a solution: a universal remote with which he can control his life, fast-forwarding through all the bad bits.
Think of Morty as a doctor and swap 'universal remote' with 'anti-depressants' and what follows can be seen in a different light. When Michael uses the remote, he is on auto-pilot, like a zombie, and before he knows it, years have passed and he has missed out on many of his family's special moments. Ultimately, his relationship with his gorgeous wife Donna (Kate Beckinsale) breaks down, he piles on the pounds, and winds up alone, having lost all that is dear to him. Then he dies.
Of course, this being a Hollywood comedy, this isn't how the story ends: Michael's miserable life turns out to have been a dream; waking up before his encounter with Morty, he decides to change his ways and make the most of every moment from now on. When offered the remote once again, he simply chucks it in the bin. If only it were that simple.
6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for the astounding old age make-up.