Mish mash of slush and surreality

Rating: 6/10 (5 November 2007)

Sandler in a comedy, er, darker role, em...about a stressed out architect who gains a magical remote control.
My opening line sums up my difficulty in categorising this movie. If you look at the press images and the DVD cover, it looks like any other Sandler comedy. In fact, it looks like any other fluffy Hollywood light hearted tale with plenty of amusement and more than a touch of sentiment.
And for the first 45 minutes to an hour, it does this more than successfully - it is actually amusing, it is fairly sweet without being saccharine, and it is extremely entertaining with superb performances all round, including Walken as a crazy inventor and Hasselhoff in a role he was born to play as a hedonistic boss.
And yet thereafter it becomes a dark, epidermal, and actually rather depressing tale of a man who makes mistakes and has to pay for them.
Before ending sugar sweet, nauseatingly so.
The problem I have with reviewing this movie is that it isn't sure what it is. It is not a comedy as the second half is anything but, and it is not a dark tale as the first hour is so light. So what is it? I'm not sure.
First off, I have to say Sandler plays his part well, and does a good job of such a tricky role, while the simply gorgeous Kate Beckinsale provides the glamour and a very convincing US accent.
And the direction is good with the story never slowing down.
But it's the wild shifts in direction which leave a sour rather than saccharine taste in the mouth.
One minute it is a comedy, then it's a depressing and grim sci-fi drama, before turning into 'it was all a dream' Dallas style (yes, really), before a sickly ending which tries to pay homage to the end of It's a Wonderful Life and fails horribly.
That all said and done, it is not a bad movie, just a mixed up one.
You will see worse, but it's better you know what on earth this one is.