JUST CLICK IT
I won’t lie. I had no intention of seeing Click in theatres. The preview didn’t look that funny, Adam Sandler is feasibly old enough to be a grandparent, and I just can’t stop thinking about The Longest Yard.
But there I was on a Monday afternoon with nothing better to do than go to the cinema with my friend and his little sister. I figured a little popcorn, a little frozen Mountain Dew, and a comfortable chair wouldn’t be a bad way to spend a couple hours…even if I was about to be subjected to Little Nicky II.
Again, I won’t lie: this movie really was not bad. I know that all the “critics” have been panning it (as they do every Sandler movie), but honestly, you could do much worse this summer than to spend your money on this version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carole for the modern man.
The movie, as you probably already know, is about a workaholic Michael Newman (Sandler) who acquires a universal remote for life. He can pause, adjust volume, rewind, and fast-forward. He does a lot of fast-forwarding. In fact, the remote eventually begins to skip scenes on its own (based on Michael’s previous choices) and before too long the man has missed most of his life. Of course he finally learns his lesson and gets a second chance, but don’t pretend like I ruined anything for you because if you didn’t see that one coming, you shouldn’t be going out of the house
What’s surprising about this film is not the sex/fart jokes, the almost humorously dated music on the soundtrack, or Sandler basically playing himself, but the rather the fact that almost the entire second half is just downright sad. This is a film that turns a very realistic tragedy for some people into a sort of fantasy parable. Click will hopefully teach children to make time for the important things in life, just like The Little Mermaid taught kids to remember to use their magical powers to give their daughters legs and Aladdin showed the world that just because you were a Muslim, dirt poor, and undoubtedly uncircumcised didn’t mean that you couldn’t have sex with a princess.
Does anyone else brace themselves like I do every time Christopher Walken appears on a movie screen? I honestly tense up and stop eating my popcorn, just because I’m not sure if he’s going to start singing, crack a joke that not a single person in the world understands (but it’s still funny), or spontaneously burst into flames while tap dancing. He is possibly the single most unpredictable actor ever, and it makes him unbelievably fun to watch. He has one line (delivered to a “paused” dog) that should have brought down the house – but I’m pretty sure I was the only one laughing in the theatre. Lord knows why.
I’ve reached a sort of understanding with Adam at this point in his career. I think he’s slowly honing in on the type of movie he’ll be making in his middle aged years, testing the waters on both sides of the median and quietly settling in. Punch Drunk Love was too much of a real “film” for him, but at the same time I think that the Waterboy days are long gone. Click is a more grown up film for a more grown up Sandler who knows that he can’t pull of the Happy Gilmore routine anymore, and even if he could, I’m not sure that he would want to. This is by no means a great movie, but it’s better than reviews indicate, and a little more staunch than one would expect from Billy Madison.
The Verdict: B