One of the worst excuses for a movie I have ever seen

Rating: 2/10 (22 August 2007)

I used to genuinely enjoy watching Adam Sandler films. He was a funny guy, and his movies showcased this talent of his off rather well. But I would imagine, after hitting a high with Big Daddy, either the quality of the films started to wear off, or Sandler just got too big for his britches. With the exception of Punch Drunk Love (an entirely different kind of role altogether) and to a lesser extent, Spanglish, I have yet to see Sandler actually pull off a massively hilarious or worthwhile comedy ever since. And Click sadly, is not exception.
Sandler plays Michael Newman, a family man obsessed with work to the point that he has next to no time to spend with his family. Not quite understanding the remotes in his house, Michael sets out one evening to get a universal remote to help him better function with the electronics in his house. But upon meeting Morty (Christopher Walken) in the 'Way Beyond' section of Bed, Bath and Beyond (that would have been clever about ten years ago), he receives much more than just a universal remote. With just a click of a button, Michael can rewind, fast-forward or skip out on certain moments in his life. But things can only go so good for so long.
Simply put, Click is one of the worst excuses for a comedy/drama that I have ever seen. Not once does the film even remotely attempt to bring anything new to the tired and overused idea at work within the film, and never once does it even attempt to revel in the genre that it belongs in. The movie just plays out at break-neck speed, beginning and ending without much in-between. And when moments of comedy come up, they speed by and either hit the mark or miss it entirely (the latter happens a whole lot more often than the former). And when moments of drama come up, they are either eluded to as still being subtly funny, or just come off as plainly amateur. The actors within the film are clearly better trained than the material, but despite this, it still acts as a barrier limiting their every move.
And no one is held back more than Sandler himself. He just does not seem to know what he is doing here, or how he should be doing it. Should he be acting like a goof, and just creating laughs for the audience at every turn? Or should he actually be a genuinely affected individual, who is slowly seeing the dramatic consequences of his every action, and is ultimately being destroyed by it? He just does not seem to understand at any point during the film, and of the mere moments where he shows a brief glimpse of the actor that was born in Punch Drunk Love, they still do not seem to cut it. He just comes off as being annoying for the most part, and when he is acting with his puppy dog-style "Woe is me!" look, he just comes off as being useless. It is almost as if he does not even bother trying anymore to create something that will genuinely affect people. If he thinks the adolescent attempt at tear-inducing drama that takes place in final act of the film was actually something worthwhile, I think he needs to start getting some better career advice.
What is even more sad is the staple of actors the film has at its disposal, who are all criminally underused. Kate Beckinsale plays Sandler's wife, and all she basically gets to do is get naughty with him, or argue with him. She may be credited second only to Sandler, but she gets such a tiny amount of screen time that you wonder why the filmmakers even bothered getting a name actor, and not just some random good looking extra. Henry Winkler and David Hasselhoff, both wonderful character actors (even if a lot of their best stuff is mere parodies of their most famous roles), are basically used as stepping stones for Sandler jokes that do nothing for the movie. The entire scene where he pauses his life and beats up Hasselhoff is not funny. It borders on being delusionally ridiculous. They do get a few funny lines, but are nothing but mere cardboard cut-outs for the most part.
Walken is the one who fares the greatest of anyone, but only by mere chance. He plays Morty as the usual kooky/crazy Walken stereotype, and it only works because it is funnier than almost anything Sandler can throw at the audience. I found myself pining for more Walken, just because everything else was so ridiculously unfunny. Even at his worst, Walken still succeeds in being better than everything in the entirety of the movie.
The only thing that can even match him is some of the interesting make-up that appears in the last half of the movie. Not so much Sandler dressed up as a fat guy (especially not during the horrendously CGI-friendly "wake-up" scene), but the aging done to the likes of Winkler, Beckinsale, Sean Astin and Julie Kavner. I thought it would look silly, but it was actually well done, and clearly was well thought out and applied in its creation. It actually makes these moments seem better than they actually are, just because of how professionally done they look. It was a treat to see the wonders of some of these scenes, and really begged the question of whether the movie could have actually been better if it was as well thought out as the make-up.
It pains me to know Sandler actually made people genuinely cry with some of the material in this film. I felt like crying yes, but only because of how atrocious the things going on on-screen were. I can only hope that there are a few more Punch Drunk Loves coming from Sandler, and no more disasters like this.
2/10.