Worth watching, but not as great as some say

Rating: 6/10 (10 October 2006)

I wasn't planning on writing a review until I saw the large number of people rating this movie a 10. It's an above average movie, I won't deny that. But it simply isn't groundbreaking or brilliant like, say, Schindler's List. It isn't even a Forrest Gump or A Beautiful Mind. It won't be winning any Oscars.
Now, of course, the question is: why? Two things strike me the most: the movie's failure to walk the fine lines any great movie needs to, and its consistent habit of opting for the over the top rather than the understated.
The story of Click is rather simple. Man gets remote that lets him fast-forward through his life, he screws his life up, regrets it, dies, wakes up from his bad dream, and promises to change his ways. The story ain't unique, but a great movie doesn't need a particularly outstanding story. What's important is how it's told, and in this respect, Click doesn't do too well.
Half the movie relies on comedy, but as hilarious as the comedic bits are, it fails to walk the fine line between "funny" and "immature". Yes, the joke about Wacko Jacko suing himself for self-molestation is funny - but the way it was done was simply too in your face when understated humour could have elicited the same amount or even more laughs. One over the top joke isn't enough to sink a comedy, but practically every joke, given the choice between subtlety and brash boldness, opts for the latter.
Unlike some critics, such as Rolling Stone, I was quite happy with the dramatic aspects of Click. I actually found the scene where Michael sees his father for the last time before he dies quite touching. It was horribly clichéd, true, but the art of film-making is about dressing up several clichés as something new, and in this regard, for a while at least, Click was a success.
What really got on my nerves, however, was the forced happy ending. To be frank, this could have been Adam Sandler's equivalent of the Truman Show if they'd just ended it with his death. I couldn't empathise with Michael's joy when he woke up - all I felt was the numbness of being emotionally cheated. The death scene was truly a brilliant closer, but it was ruined.
I like how the producers tried to go for a deep comedy with a message behind it, but the message simply wasn't conveyed correctly. You want a comedy with a deep message that works? Go for Forrest Gump. Click tried to work along the same lines, but it just fell flat. Relying on physical and scatological gags cheapens the theme, and screwing up what could have been a truly excellent ending is simply unforgivable. A solid six out of ten, but it really could have been so much more.