"Click" is the a straightforward family comedy outside the typical Adam Sandler vein. It’s more in line with 50 First Dates than Happy Gilmore or Billy Madison. Sandler seems to be moving more towards family-style comedy, but his fondness for the low-brow still bleeds through.
"Click"
Written by Steven Koran & Mike O’Keefe
Rewrites by Adam Sandler, Tim Herlihy, and Jack Giarraputto
Draft Date: 3/28/05
"Click" follows the life of a young architect named Michael Newman, set to be played by Sandler. Michael’s a workaholic with a great family. He’s constantly trying to strike a balance between his family and the job he hates. Like any addict, Michael can’t even admit he’s got a problem. He hates his job and the man he works for, but he won’t stop doing it long enough to enjoy time with his family.
According to IMDb, Michael’s wife Donna is going to be played by Kate Beckinsale. Due to the nature of the film’s oddball gimmick, Donna isn’t around a lot. Most of the film focuses on Michael and his job, and the family suffers for it. Normally, this would probably leave me irritated since I wouldn’t get to see what was so great about Newman’s family in the first place. In this case it works perfectly, because Michael’s not even paying attention to them. He’s only focused on doing a good job and succeeding so that, down the road, he can stop and enjoy his life. He doesn’t realize, until it’s way too late, that this won’t succeed. This approach is going to fail, not because it’s a bad idea, but because Michael’s got a lousy attitude.
Now for the gimmick. While working late, Michael has difficulty with his television setup having far too many remotes. So he heads out to find one remote to control everything. It’s late, though, so the only place open is a Bed, Bath, & Beyond. He goes in and finds nothing in the Bed and Bath parts of the store, but a strange door marked "Beyond" gets his attention. Inside he runs into a man named Morty, who is said to be played by Christopher Walken. Perfect choice. This character is odd, but not too weird to not be funny. Walken could sleepwalk through a role like this. Morty gives Michael the latest in Universal Remotes and sends the man on his way.
Now, when I said Universal Remote, I meant just that. It’s a remote that controls Michael’s Universe. Yeah, it’s silly, but if you get past that, the film does just fine. It explores exactly what an idiot like Michael would do with that sort of power. He mutes his wife when she’s arguing with him. He fast-forwards through the boring parts of life. He even finds out he can skip whole chapters of his life if he wants. As with any film where the hero has to learn a lesson before the last ten minutes, there are some drawbacks.
Michael is an addict of the highest order. It’s not drugs or liquor, but it’s just as bad. The Remote is just his latest fix. It was designed, however, to screw him over. He winds up fast-forwarding through several years of his life in large bursts, owing to the Remotes ability to remember your choices like a TiVo box might. His marriage falls apart. His kids are distant. His father, whom he tried to ignore, is now dead. His working life’s where he wants it. He’s running the place pretty quick. But he’s unhappy because the things that mattered to him are gone. Typical It’s A Wonderful Life style storytelling. There’s a big difference with this one, though. There are spoilers after this, so if you don’t want to read them, stop now.
It doesn’t end quite like you’d expect. After fast-forwarding to his son’s wedding, Michael suffers a heart attack. His son is about to cancel his own honeymoon to keep his father’s business running. Michael runs out of the hospital, at great risk to his health, to tell his son that family comes first. A lesson he learned way too damned late to help him. Then Michael dies.
Yeah, he dies. Then he wakes up, back in the Bed, Bath, & Beyond. He hurries back to his home, wakes his family, and changes everything about his life in one night. No more working late hours at the expense of his wife’s love. No more eating garbage that’s bad for him. No more ignoring his parents. It’s all sunshine and roses, until Michael meets Morty in his kitchen. Morty, you see, is the Angel of Death. Michael’s life happened exactly as he remembered it happening and he can’t change that now. He hasn’t gotten a second chance at life. He’s dead and this is just his version of heaven. This is devastating at first, but then Morty reveals that Michael’s kids are going to be alright and the lesson Michael taught his son at the end took hold.
Right then, I realized I was gonna like this film, assuming it sticks with that ending. Take away the Universal Remote and you’ve got a guy who went through his whole life on autopilot and only realized at the end how bad he’s screwed things up. That’s an everyday story. Happens all the time. In this case, though, the Hollywood Ending isn’t entirely there. Instead of getting a second chance, Michael’s choices can’t be undone. He gets to play at being a decent husband and father in Heaven, or his version of it at least. I wasn’t expecting that at all, and I have to give high marks to an Adam Sandler film that can surprise me.
Steven Dougherty has fifteen universal remotes that control about four devices each. None of them allow him to subtitle conversations in foreign languages, much to his dismay.
