Multi-generational appeal

Rating: 8/10 (8 November 2006)

Click is a hybrid of the traditional Sandler formula film (wherein a whacky, violent, and outspoken character placed in an implausible situation thwarts know-it-all bad guys and comes out smelling like a rose) and more recent, cerebral efforts like Spanglish, or perhaps a closer parallel, 50 First Dates. Elements of both appear in Click.
Sandler's character in Click, Michael Newman, is violent and outspoken, and if not as whacky as Happy Gilmore or the Waterboy, certainly free enough with bathroom humor and profanity. Like 50 First Dates, Click addresses much deeper stuff than Sandler's earlier films. Newman races through his life, so focused on goal attainment that he ends up missing out on the parts of life that are really most meaningful and important. By the time Newman realizes what he is doing to his life, his marriage, and his family, it is too late. He can't stop the process or go back and undo it.
Clearly, Click is an allegory for midlife and its attendant crises. It can also be interpreted as a modern-day re-tread of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, with Newman in the role of Scrooge. Similar to A Christmas Carol, Click enjoys a Hollywood ending, so Newman gets his second chance, but the pathos played out in the rapid passage of his life is real enough, and hits home for anyone over the age of 40. In this way, Sandler scores a multi-generational home run: Click contains patented Sandler rough-and-tumble, adolescent humor to please preteens, teens, and young adults, but unlike previous films, also includes a subtext relevant to an older audience.
Sandler's easy delivery and general affability make him likable and believable as ever in the lead role of Newman. Kate Beckinsale does a convincing and sympathetic job as Newman's unappreciated, overlooked, and eventually frustrated and disillusioned wife. Beckinsale initially seems implausibly gorgeous as Sandler's wife, but in the context of the lesson being taught, her beauty is important as one of the prominent positives that Newman overlooks in his life.
Christopher Walken, David Hasselhoff, Henry Winkler, and Julie Kavner all deliver reliable if somewhat broad supporting performances. Hasselhoff in particular is a treat as the self-absorbed Marley's Ghost of this off-beat Christmas Carol. Walken is cast as Morty, the film's equivalent of the combined ghosts of past, present, and future. His innately menacing quality lurks somewhere in the background here, but in general the role is too goofy. It seems a pity that in general Walken has been misused in this way in so many films of late (e.g., Mouse Hunt, Envy, Blast From the Past). His brilliant early work in The Deerhunter has yet to be rivalled; his best comedic pieces involve more restraint, and his talents are put to their best use more in the vein of farce than out-and-out burlesque (e.g., Pulp Fiction).
The supporting cast is competent and believable, and the scripting is crisp and engaging. Overall, this is an enjoyable film with a relevant message that deserves a look.