Don’t expect your average Adam Sandler comedy, but expect some bits of It’s A Wonderful Life thrown in for good measure and you’ll enjoy Click. However if you expect the usual Sandler shtick you may go away disappointed.
Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) is a workaholic architect who slaves under his boss Mr. Ammer (David Hasselhoff) hoping that one day he’ll make partner in the firm. He’s always putting work before his family. They’re looking forward to having the Fourth of July holiday weekend with dad, but he gets the call from his boss that he needs to design a building.
He’s got a wife with a rockin’ body named Donna (Kate Beckinsale) and two cute kids Ben (Joseph Castanon, Jonah Hill and Jake Hoffman play him at various ages) and Samantha (Tatum McCann, Lorraine Nicholson and Katie Cassidy play her at various ages). He also has two loving parents (Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner) who take up the slack while Michael is slaving away. His latest clients are a Japanese firm so he has to watch a video about Japanese culture and architecture, but cannot find the right remote control. He decides that its time to get a universal remote so he heads out to the stores. The only one open is Bed, Bath and Beyond. He wanders around the store until he sees a door marked Beyond.
On the other side of a long hallway a fellow in a lab coat is at work. His name is Morty (Christopher Walken) and he says that he has just the thing for Michael. He takes him through a door marked “Way Beyond” and gives him a universal remote. He gets home and notices that he can mute as fast forward the dog. He goes back to Morty and he tells him that he’s given him a remote that controls Michael’s universe. It’s complete with commentary by James Earl Jones and when he accesses the main menu and chooses making of he sees his conception.
Morty gets Michael the remote to control his universe
Michael goes home to work, but since they couldn’t go on the camping trip the house is full of kids for a sleepover. Michael uses his remote to skip an argument, the sleepover stuff, fast forward thru sex to get back to work, and skips a weekend cold. Morty does tell him a secret that while his mind is skipping ahead his body is still in the moment and on autopilot. He awakens Monday having skipped his cold and finds that his weekend work has been done. He brings it to the client and uses the remote to translate their Japanese conversation and finds out what they really want from the project. He suggests exactly what they’re looking for, saves the day, and goes home thinking that he’s going to be made partner.
Unfortunately the next day he finds out that he’s not been made partner and decides to fast forward to when he’s made partner (against Morty’s warnings). He wakes up a partner, but finds that it took a year to make it and he’s been an entire year on autopilot and his marriage is failing because of it. Not only that but the control is an auto-learning control and thinks that Michael wants to skip arguments, fast forward thru sex, and skip illnesses. With all those things happening automatically, Michael finds that his life is quite a mess.
Click is a good movie, but if you’re expecting the usual Adam Sandler stuff you’re in for a disappointment. You may even have some tears in your eyes by the final resolution of Michael’s story.
It’s more It’s A Wonderful Life than Happy Gilmore. Adam Sandler actually plays quite well here and has the opportunity to wear a fat suit and get made up in old age makeup later on. Kate Beckinsale has a hot, rockin’ body (I’m quoting Morty here but I’ll have to agree) and one wonders about Michael’s sanity since he’d rather be at work. Beckinsale does a great American accent and plays her part well.
Donna and Michael
Christopher Walken is well, just Christopher Walken and always a pleasure to watch. It’s always fun to see David Hasselhoff get the crap beat out of him too. There’s some fine supporting work from Henry Winkler, Julie Kavner, and all the actors that play Michael’s kids in the film. However, the plotline is a little old hat – part Wonder Life and other parts the old “careful what you ask for” plotline.
Click is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary by Adam Sandler, director Frank Coraci, writer Steve Koren, and executive producer Tim Herlihy. There are also 3 minutes of deleted scenes. There are also seven featurettes.
The first is 6 minutes and called “Make Me Old and Fat” and covers the makeup effects. It has interviews with Henry Winkler, director Frank Coraci, special effects master Rick Baker, Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, and visual effects designer Jim Rygiel.
The second is the 5 minute “FX of Click” and interviews Rygiel, Beckinsale, special effects coordinator John C. Hartigan, and lead creative supervisor Kent DeMaine. The third is the 4 minute “Design my Universe” and interviews Coraci and production designer Perry Andelin Blake. The fourth is the 3 minute “Cars of the Future” and interviews Hartigan, Blake, Coraci, and sculptor Craig Abele.
The fifth is the 1 minute “Humping Dogs” and interviews Rygiel and Beckinsale about the activities of the hounds in the picture. The sixth featurette is 4 minutes and called “Director’s Take” and allows the cast to gush over the director. It has interviews with Christopher Walken, Sandler, David Hasselhoff, Jake Hoffman, Julie Kavner, actress Sophie Monk, Sean Astin, Henry Winkler, and Beckinsale. The final featurette is the 3 minute “Fine Cookin’” and is Sandler doing funny in the fat suit. Finally there’s a collection of previews for other Sony DVDs.
It's good to be the boss
Click is not your typical Adam Sandler vehicle, but I did enjoy the picture. You may even have tears in your eyes by the end of the show. Sandler gets excellent support from the supporting cast, standouts being Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner. Even though the story was familiar and I know how it was going to turn out, I still came away liking the picture very much.
Click is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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