"Click" Is A Clunker, & Adam Sandler's Most Disappointing Movie

Rating: 4/10 (6 June 2011)

Every time I think about the movie "Click", I can't help but get angry, as if I had been cheated into watching it in the first place. I don't know if it's Adam Sandler's worst movie, but it is by far his most disappointing.
Basically, when I first went to see the film in June of 2006, I went in expecting a comedy, which is what I got for the first half of the film. The second half, however, was when the film not only became unfunny, but it ventured into such sad, dark, and depressing territory. By the end, I felt as though I had been tricked into seeing a better film.
In this movie, Sandler plays Michael Newman, a happily-married architect whose main problem is his boss (David Hasselhoff), who repeatedly puts him on time-sensitive assignments to the point where he doesn't spend the time with his wife and kids that he would like to. His family, particularly his wife Donna (Kate Beckinsale), doesn't seem to be the least sympathetic to the fact that he has to work to support the family, which is a theme also prevalent in other forgettable comedies of yesteryear like "Multiplicity" and "Jingle All The Way" (both 1996).
Late one night, Michael goes out the the nearest available store to find a universal remote. In an admittedly creative way to incorporate product placement into a film, he drives by various outlet stores until venturing into Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Finding a door marked "Beyond" in the store, he walks through and meets an eccentric electrician named Morty (Christopher Walken, probably the best thing about the film). Morty gives Michael a blue remote control without a box or any instructions, and just tells him to "Point, and Click" to make it work.
As these movies go, Michael finds that he can control time and other things with this remote. It's pretty creative how the remote works, especially when he can see aspects of his life through DVD special features. I though the "Making Of" section of Michael's life was funny particularly. There are also some funny parts where he adjusts the color of himself using the remote.
However, the movie really loses its common sense, and its humor, when Sandler's character uses the Fast Forward button for various situations. Admittedly, the movie had a good way of covering up what could be a major plot hole. If you fast forward through time, what would you be doing in the eyes of everyone else around you? Would you just be standing there, moving slowly?
So goes the concept of being on "auto pilot", where Michael goes through the motions of what he's supposed to be doing in a given place and time, but without any kind of emotion. Being in auto pilot allows him to complete his architectural work, but gradually he loses touch with his wife and kids.
With that plot hole covered up, many other holes emerge when Morty reveals that the remote programs itself to automatically fast forward time according to Michael's previous commands. So when Michael fast forwarded through his cold, the remote fast forwards through other times he was sick. When his wife argues with him, ditto.
Eventually, in a scene that really made me want to cry out loud, Sandler finds himself accidentally in the year 2017, where he is morbidly obese (in a fat suit that resembles Fat Bastard in the "Austin Powers" movies), divorced, living alone, and estranged from his family.
From this point, you can tell the film is blatantly ripping off "A Christmas Carol" and "It's A Wonderful Life", although you may be too depressed to notice. There are funny parts thrown into these later scenes, but they are blatantly crushed by the weight of the all too heavy drama in which the film finds itself.
All I could do was get angry at Sandler, or at least his character, and wonder how you can screw up this royally if you have all the power in the world in one hand. Plus, if I had a magic remote in this situation, you know what I would do: USE THE PAUSE BUTTON. Why it never occurs to this character to pause time and do his architectural work is beyond me.
If you're going to make a goofy comedy where David Hasselhoff is your boss, it's best to keep it funny throughout. When you throw in an exhausting cautionary tale about the meaning of life and the importance of family, you just lose credibility. Seeing this movie made me want to use a magic remote to rewind time and stop my past self from paying to see this movie. I would not mind seeing a movie solely about Morty, however, provided Christopher Walken doesn't play Russian Roulette with audience's expectations.