Adam Sandler’s production company continues to spin oddball variations on their star’s bread and butter. “Click” is a Sandler movie, so there are flatulence jokes, scenes of dogs humping plush toys and a broad helping of Regular Joe sentiment. But there are a few surprises.
Sandler plays a husband and father whose job at an architecture firm keeps dragging him away from his family. One night he goes to Bed, Bath &Beyond in search of a Universal Remote Control.
In a funny idea, he finds his way to a door marked “Beyond” (yes, there really is something beyond the bed and bath). There waits a mad-doctor type, played by Christopher Walken, who hands Sandler a remote control that actually allows the user to stop, fast forward and view the special features of his own life. (Turns out there’s a commentary track to Sandler’s world, narrated by James Earl Jones.)
Sandler points and clicks at his busy existence, which allows him to skip fights with his wife (Kate Beckinsale) and pause his boss (David Hasselhoff) in mid-tirade. This stuff is standard sitcom material, neither better nor worse that Sandler’s usual run.
Then the film takes off into an update on “A Christmas Carol,” albeit without the holiday. Like a TiVo that begins thinking on its own, the remote control anticipates Sandler’s urge to fast-forward himself, and he starts missing vast sections of his own life.
That’s when the jokes recede and the sentiment takes center stage. The violins tune up and Sandler’s hair gets gray as he leap-frogs forward in his life, skipping all the experiences that count, even though his professional life is a big success.
The real surprise is that some of this is actually affecting, if you can forget about the scenes of dogs humping plush toys that came before. Sandler keeps threatening to turn his films into something more serious, but he always plays it safe by falling back on his tried-and-true shtick. (The exceptions are the movies he made outside his production company, “Spanglish” and the terrific “Punch Drunk Love.”)
The supporting cast is a garden party of familiar faces, with Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner as Sandler’s parents and Sean Astin as a swimming coach whose Speedo trunks are the source of a series of one-liners. Christopher Walken, meanwhile, gives a Walken performance; he sounds as though each line in a script is a telegram from outer space.
Director Frank Coraci did “The Waterboy” and “The Wedding Singer” for Adam Sandler, so there’s a comfort level for the star. Will audiences like Sandler as a Dickensian Everyman, or do they prefer him to stick to poop jokes? Fast forward to find out.
Adam Sandler stars in “Click.”
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